Mr. Chase's Room

We've Moved

2009-01-25T20:04:00.003-05:00

I don't know if it was Educon or the fact we've reached the middle of the academic year or some bit of lunch stuck in my teeth. Whatever it is, I've up and moved the blog to wordpress. I've been thinking about it for a while, and decided to bite the bullet.

So, tada.

Come check me out at http://misterchase.wordpress.com.

There might even be pie.

Might As Well Blog or My Map for the Quarter

2008-12-01T01:52:00.001-05:00

I've honestly been trying to go to sleep for the past 45 minutes, but I can't. No good reason, just restlessness.
I got much done today.
The book I've been waiting to teach, Dave Eggers' What is the What, lingers in back order purgatory, so I've decided to move on. Not only have I mapped out the remainder of this quarter, I've a plan of attack for the third and fourth quarters as well. I'd been letting things live in my head for a few months now because the final three quarters of my year will be linked. Tomorrow, I unveil this triptic project to one class of 11th grade students. I'm expecting it to be a bit intense.
The outline is available here, but I'll give you the skinny on Q3.
The essential question they'll be investigating this quarter is "What causes systemic and individual change?"

Reading: The students will be operating in Lit. Circles, reading and analyzing texts related to the question. They'll be organizing a timeline to complete the reading on schedule, having online conversations using moodle's forum feature and having three f2f group talks about the book. Even better, I'm working to get at least one teacher SLA or not working with each book (spaces still available) to put more of a focus on the exploration of texts.

Book	Author
Long Way Gone	Ishmael Beah
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Ken Kesey
It's Not About the Bike	Lance Armstrong
What is the What	Dave Eggers
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings	Maya Angelou
When I was Puerto Rican	Esmeralda Santiago
The Soloist	Steve Lopez
A Room of One's Own	Virginia Woolf

Writing: The 2fers continue this quarter. This may be my all-time favorite assignment. A bi-weekly 2-page analytical paper built around an original thesis from each student with MLA citation. The frequency gives me time to provide each student individual feedback for the next paper and shapes my remediation or decision on which skills they're ready for next.

Thinking: This is the long one. The students will be working with partners to identify a problem facing Philadelphia. From there, they'll be responsible for researching the problem's history, causes, impact and cost. They'll be drafting annotated bibliographies on all of the above and then creating presentations in the vein of ignitephilly.org. The presentations will go up online where the world will vote for the problem and presentation that shows the most promise to be relieved. The top presentations from each class will create action plans in the third quarter and the fourth quarter will be all about putting those plans into action.

It's not how I was taught English. While Mrs. Henning-Buhr and Mrs. Miller were lovely women, I don't remember ever completing an assignment in their classes and feeling connected to the outside world. The goals across the three are simple: 1. Examine various texts for insight as to how their characters help shape a possible answer to the quarter's essential question. 2. Incorporate that insight into frequent analytical writing to deepen their thinking on the topic. 3. Carry that enduring understanding to application using literary ideas to inform real world problem solving. All right, maybe not so simple.
More later.

A Little Perspective

2008-11-27T10:30:00.001-05:00

Never one for the "What are you thankful for?" essay, my students watched the Water Buffalo video in class yesterday. I suppose I'm now one of those teachers who watches videos on the day before break, but that's my cross to bear.
The plan was to have them watch the video where a $450 water buffalo which equals an Indonesian family's yearly salary is gifted to such a family and we all learn a little bit about life and maybe, just maybe, ourselves.
To hit the lesson home, the students were going to catalog the price of everything they had on their person. This leads to, "Ohmigosh, I am carrying around the salary of an entire Indonesian family," and our very special episode of Blossom concludes.
In another instance of underestimating our kids, they got it.
First hand up, "It just made me think of how much I have and how much I take for granted. I mean, all that work they have to do just to farm..."
Well, my work was done.
The nods of agreement across the classroom told me I needn't proceed with the cataloging.
"Look up here," say I, projecting the Kiva.org homepage on the board.
After a 10-minute explanation, the kids are working in teams to find a loan to which they think we should contribute the $50 sitting in my Kiva account.
When we get back from break, the class will vote.
The judiciousness with which they approached the selection process was inspiring.
There's your critical thinking.

Live Blog of Mayor Nutter's Education Address

2008-09-11T18:48:00.003-04:00

Proving Kevin Costner Right

2008-08-03T17:43:00.002-04:00

A Canadian teacher friend of mine made an impassioned plea to a group of assembled teachers the other day to get them to stop buying bottled water. "It is wrong to charge people for something necessary to their survival," he reasoned.
As much as we speak of the fact our students don't know a world without an Internet, they don't know a world where where it isn't the norm to pay money for a bottle of water either.
And then, there's this:

...[S]tarting today (Aug. 1), coach passengers flying aboard US Airways Inc. must pay for a drink of water.
This morning, US Airways began charging fliers $2 for bottled water and
sodas and $1 for teas and coffees. First class members, trans-Atlantic passengers and a select group of others are exempt from the extra fees.

If this is a harbinger of things to come, no one tell Kevin Costner. I'll be picking up Bottlemania by Elizabeth Royte.

Viacom's Drop-out Rate

2008-07-31T12:58:00.001-04:00

Wired.com shoots us the indelicately titled "How American Youth Will Screw Viacom" describing Viacom's lackluster sales growth in the Second Quarter.

After I dried my tears, I read on. What got me most was this:

The fundamental problem could be that the "youth demo" that Viacom has hotly chased after for the last couple decades is a bust. Teens and twenty-somethings don't watch TV anymore; they don't read newspapers; and they're technologically promiscuous -- how can big media sell advertising against them if you can't corner them in front of any single device?

Welcome to the classroom, Viacom. The parallels extend beyond the classroom. It might just be me, but each time I speak to a group of teachers, formally or informally, about new tools and tactics for the classroom, I invariably get the same question, "But, which one should I use?" It's the silver bullet question, and I hate it. It's the question that tells me either they weren't listening or I didn't strongly enough make the the case that it's about a paradigm shift.
Undoubtedly, Viacom execs are confounded as to which tool they should use to bring their audience back. Of course, one tool won't do it. If I may make a hyperbolic metaphor, their target demo is out of the cave.
The dancing shadows of I Love Money and Real World/Road Rules Challenge MMMCVI just don't hold the same magic.
The same is to be said of the classroom, though it could be argued textbooks never held quite as much magic.
It's not just networks; now Viacom's gotta compete with the world.

How will I waste time now?

2008-07-29T12:34:00.001-04:00

Stupid copyright getting in the way. Philly City Paper's staff blog, The Clog,
reports:

Everything is ruined forever!

Popular
social networking site Facebook finally pulled down Scrabulous, its
third-party version of Scrabble, after being threatened with legal
action. Following Mattel, who owns the international rights to
Scrabble, U.S. rights holder Hasbro slammed Facebook with a Digital
Millennium Copyright notice. F-book took the game down due to the
copyright concerns (which, let's be honest, it totally violated wicked
hard), and Hasbro in turn is filing suit against the application's
creators...

Can't we just jump forward in time to a free and open exchange of ideas? Stupid copyright. Stupid, stupid copyright.

Brain Dump: What I'm Tinkering with for Next Year

2008-07-27T15:10:00.004-04:00

We're adding another year to SLA this fall. I'll be teaching Freshmen and Juniors. As such, it means I'll be developing a new curriculum for the Juniors. I'll also be working Larissa Pahomov the newest addition to our English Dept. We've started trading e-mails back and forth in prep for the coming year. My last epistle included some of the big and medium ideas for the year. I thought I'd throw them up here for review.
Freshman Interviews: This would be an opening mini-project where each of my 11th graders interviews one of my 9th graders using questions drafted based on the 11th-grade essential questions. The interviews will be edited as podcasts put on Drupal and iTunes. The hope here is two-fold:

It gives the 9th graders something they will be able to examine as 12th graders when they get there.
2) One of the concerns I heard over and over last year is that the 10th graders never really got to know many of the 9th graders.

Objectives: Get them considering the essential questions, building communication skills and learning how to develop effective interviewing/research questions.

Bi-weekly 2fers: One of the pieces I want to build into the year is the idea that, at this point, the kids should be able to consistantly develop a thesis and draft a formal paper with little assistance. The plan would be to have kids write a 2-page paper every other week based on readings, class discussions, outside reading and/or current events. I'd set up a standing analytic soring rubric based on things like conventions, focus, organization, incorporation of outside sources, etc. Because I'll have two sections of 11th, I'll alternate the assignment weeks to help with grading.
Objectives: Develop independent writing skills, practice conventions of formal writing, build diversity of thesis development.

Change Project: This one's still in the tinkering stage. Because, conceivably, half of my students next year will have been my students last year and half will have been in Josh Block's class, I'm heading back to the drawing board on my 3rd Quarter "Change the World" project. I'm planning on working with our new History teacher Diana Laufenberg on this one too. In the opening weeks of the year, we'll brainstorm and research different topics in the world that need attention/changing. The students will identify those areas they have the most interest/stake in and then be grouped accordingly. From there, they will be assigned the task of moving to define the problem through its relation to the texts we examine in class as well as identify and perpetrate needed change.
The project will culminate as their fourth quarter benchmark. The idea here is to get them thinking as a group in a year-long way they can then build off of as seniors when working individually on their capstone projects. I'm thinking the first quarter entree will be an examination of local community service groups and a required period of community service through volunteermatch.org. Again, this would be partnered with their History work. Maybe Q2 will be about selecting issues they have examined in Q1. I don't know. This one is still fuzzy, but feels like a strong and compelling idea.
Objectives: draw connections between literature and real life, draw connections between history and literature, encourage community involvement and subsequent reflection, foster group communication skills, build intensive research skills, encourage real-world problem solving.

Outside reading: While I think Larissa and I agree the texts we've selected for 11th are great, I know some of the students are going to have other ideas. I don't want to have the kids feeling like the only time they read is when we've selected and assigned a text. As such, I want to incorporate outside choice and reading this year. I'm not certain how the accountability side of this would work. Perhaps the assignment of one outside reading book per quarter. Maybe one of the 2fers each quarter would be assigned to include a comparison between their selected texts and a class text or current event. I know that moves away from inquiry a bit, but I'm just brainstorming, right?
Objectives: develop personal choice in reading, build comparative analysis skills, increase the breadth of literary experience.

Outside speakers: Because of our partnership with The Franklin, SLA has had the opportunity to hear from some scientists at the head of amazing scientific endeavors. I'd like to work with Diana again to pull in as many relevant outside speakers as possible. I had the chance to meet Andrew Carroll last April. He lives in D.C. and would be great to have in whilst the kids are reading The Things They Carried. For that matter, I'd like to get in touch with Tim O'Brien who lives in Boston. If we can't get him down, I'd like to at least blog/skype/whatever. This is to say nothing of Larissa's work with the Free Library last year and getting Sudanese refugees in to talk while we're reading What is the What. I'm thinking one speaker a month would be good to shoot for with other, smaller speakers coming in as a type of brown bag lunch series.
Objectives: Authentic textual connections
School Paper/Lit. Magazine: This never got off the ground last year. I'd like to see it as an extracurricular activity. Just putting it out there for now.

Visiting Professors: I'd also like to get some local professors who specialize in the books we're reading to come in and talk. Maybe that could be a brown bag seminar. I'm not sure.
Objectives: Deepen understanding of literature, build academic dialogue about given texts.

Oh, district, you're so witty.

2008-05-20T08:58:00.003-04:00

So, I was doing a little Stumble Upon because it tends to garner some pretty cool tools for helping my students research and write.

Then I stumbled upon this:

I had to laugh to keep from crying. The district has blocked the Sarcasm Society website. The best part? It is blocked because the content falls under the category of "Humor/Jokes." I suppose we now know the district has a sense of humor, it just chooses to keep it blocked. What would its therapist say?
More Later.

"To what base uses we may return..." OR Shut up and read

2008-05-19T16:39:00.001-04:00

As of today, Philly's got one month left of school. It's starting to show. I'm fine with that.
In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have saved Hamlet and Othello as the last texts for my ninth and tenth graders respectively. Still, I did, so we're here and there's nothing to be done about it now.
I co-teach my freshman sections with an equally energetic teacher whom the kids dubbed Ms. WaWa before I arrived.
We've made it to Act V Scene i and this is where the good stuff starts, right? I mean, daggers are drawn, poison is discussed and NO ONE is reading.
When reviewing the plot as it relates to the main themes in one section of today's class, I did one of those teacher pauses and noticed that thing that happens sometimes where a teacher asks a question, gives the appropriate amount of think time and then in the absence of eager hands, answers the question with an energy level that would make the Micro Machines Man winded.
Direct questions to the more aloof members of the class resulted in the bewildered stare I remember giving to my mom where I hoped I could wait out her interest in an answer rather than offer something self-incriminating.
My sails a bit wind-deprived, I stopped WaWa and asked a question to which I already knew the answer.
They hadn't read. Well, to be fair, four of them admitted they had completed the required reading. The rest of the class was either sitting idly hoping to go unnoticed or proffering up answers that belied a less-than-complete knowledge of the text.
I got my ire on.
"If you've read, that's great, get started on tonight's reading and you'll be ahead of the game. If you haven't read, start. Tomorrow, there will be a reading quiz asking for detailed answers to what happened."
I was met with the requisite, "oh-geez-we-ticked-him-off-feign-shame" silence. A minute or so later, shame had passed, a laptop was opened. "What are you doing?" says I.
"I'm going on sparknotes to read the No Fear Shakespeare version."
"No, no you're not. We're keeping technology out of this one and we're just reading and making notes where we don't understand things, so that we can ensure a rich class discussion tomorrow."
Yeah, I used the teacher "we" when I was talking about them - that's how ticked I was.
Now, I'll admit to faking my way through many a class discussion (I like to think it's a part of why they gave me my degree), but I also knew the classes where actually reading the text was key to survival:

Understanding of plot points - necessary
Main ideas of article on a New Historicist understanding of text - unnecessary

They don't know how to honor these differences yet. Today's class pulled back the curtain on a rather befuddled All Powerful Oz. Tonight they will read. They may not like it, but they will read. Such is life in compulsory education.
Tomorrow's class will be better for it. They will feel smarter because they will actually be smarter. They will know which questions to ask and how to ask them. At least that's the goal. No computers, no ActivBoards, no wifi, just kids, books, teachers and the occasional stickie note.
Here's hoping.
More later.

It's all me

2008-05-14T10:36:00.001-04:00

As part of every induction session (usually the part we don't get to because we fall behind in the script) we are supposed to read a journal article loosely based on the session topic.
The first session's article dealt with the cycle of a first-year teacher. Nevermind the fact we're none of us first-year teachers.
It used the graphic to the right.
I'm worried.
Chris blogged the other day, “Too often, the rhetoric of schools does delve into the heroic martyr teacher succeeding against all odds. That's not sustainable. That's not even useful.”
Let me be clear, I do not want to be a martyr - that never ends well. I can't say I even want to be a hero - tights chafe.
I worry as I read this and this and this that teachers around the country are getting stuck somewhere in winter. Teachers are hitting the wall.
Something noble still exists in teaching.
Dana Huff writes:

Some days, I think teachers get a great deal of satisfaction out of their jobs — because truly no feeling can top working with a class when everyone’s really getting it and engaged in learning — and those days are worth the days when we don’t feel appreciated or satisfied, but it’s difficult, and I don’t think a lot of people are willing to or may even be capable of the endurance it takes to make a career of teaching these days.

The tale end of her description falls nicely in line with what Chris has to say about ex-teachers: Those teachers felt overworked, under-prepared, under-challenged, and under-appreciated.”
These teachers live in November. They teach daily in a long, cold winter of disillusionment after a gray, dreary autumn of survival.
Seeing this, watching it happen to teachers I know, I wonder why I'm still here. What's wrong with me that I still look forward to coming to school everyday?
I've yet to teach in a perfect school. I never will. I've yet to teach in a school where I couldn't fall in love with my job. I never will.
When it comes down to it, I come to school everyday because I've made certain I work in places I love. I always will. As cliche as it sounds, I live by choice.
I exercise control in what I have control over. That makes the horrible days - the really horrible days - when the things beyond my control take center stage still livable.
When did teachers abdicate control?
More later.

I'm Either Insulted or Going Crazy

2008-05-09T14:50:00.001-04:00

I think I may have stumbled on to one of the causes of the high rate of new teacher attrition.
Wednesday night, I finished session 4 of 5 of the School District of Philadelphia's New Teacher Induction program.
My blood pressure wasn't as high as it had been for sessions 1 and 2. I got out of session 3 by presenting with Marcie at Penn State's 1:1 Laptop Conference. Coincidentally, it was the session where we talked about whether or not technology integration was important to differentiated instruction. (Had I been there, I'm pretty sure my eyes would have bled or I would have rocked back and forth in the corner humming "The Farmer and the Dale.")
I had to go through new teacher induction my first year in Sarasota. The process took the entire year. SRQ uses a mentor/mentee model where novice teachers are teamed up with veterans. I'm pretty sure my mentor didn't like me because our meetings usually consisted of the following:
Her: How you doing?
Me: Fine.
Her: Good. I guess I better initial those papers.
It was a synergy to make Stephen Covey proud.
Philly's induction, like Philly's core curriculum, is scripted, minute-by-minute. You can imagine what that does to class discussion. Not surprisingly, this also means, we have avoided the topic of differentiated instruction.
Wednesday, as we began looking at data and AYP and core curriculum and needs assessments and PSSA trend analysis and everything else, I could take no more.
"This is insulting," I said, "We are all professionals, we have been trained as teachers."
The instructor/facilitator/swami agreed, but pointed out that our ability didn't mean a few bad teachers didn't enter the profession.
"Yes, but I've had a few weeks with the 20 people in this room, and I'm pretty confident we're not those teachers, but we've allowed for the building of a system that treats us as though we are."
At this point, the train had jumped the tracks.
It was wonderful. We had an honest discussion of race and the history of Philadelphia, about systems and the like. For the first time, the car ride home was filled with discussion not of how things could have gone, but what things can become.
I've more thoughts on this swimming around. They'll appear shortly, but the crux of it is this: I know new teachers need support in their first two years or they'll revert to teaching the way they were taught when they were in school. But shouldn't that support be dynamic? Shouldn't that support be about what teachers need? Shouldn't we be engaging each other in the kind of dynamic discourse we're hoping for in our classrooms? Shouldn't we?
More later.

Oh, The Paper

2008-03-25T23:38:00.001-04:00

For those who are unaware, SLA is a textbook-less school. More to the point, we're a paper textbook-less school. It is a beautiful thing. Truly.

Today, preparing my 10th graders to create the Action Plan portion of what they've dubbed the "Change the World Project." I created a Word document complete with step-by-step instructions with guiding questions. It was good teaching. I threw the doc up on our Moodle page and worked the kids through the prep they needed to undertake the assignment. Then, it happened, Moodle was down. The Moodle (sometimes we call it that in our Seinfeldian way) was down.

If I may drop some sarcasm on you, one of my favorite moments in a class is when something simple doesn't work and hands shoot up and the kids start shouting my name like it's a button for an elevator that won't show up.

I say all this because it's the thing about actual textbooks, they don't crash. That's it. I've worked in a 1:1 school in some incarnation or another for almost three years now. I love it.

They crash. Yes. You know what, though? They come back.

A few things can't be done easily with paper textbooks: upgrading an entire curriculum in a day, patching, getting the most timely information possible, receiving information free of charge or corporate filtration, researching innumerable points of view, differentiating instruction on a dime...

Here's the rub, when a kid forgets his book, that kid just needs to share with his neighbor. When an online book crashes, sadly, it falls on the shoulders of a schools techies. The shift or added layer of responsibility that comes with paperless texts can be difficult to maneuver. That, though, is why we are the teachers. Since the days of slate tablets, Plan A has failed and Plan B has been picked up on the fly.

The point is this, paperless books are not perfect, but they are far better than the tools of old. By the time I'd printed the pages I needed for today's lesson, The Moodle was back up and what I'm sure was half an acre of Brazil had been clear cut. My own personal Change the World Project?

More later.

I just like this

2008-02-27T21:17:00.001-05:00

I stumbledupon this, and it made me smile.
More later.

Going Deep

2008-02-27T20:56:00.001-05:00

A Pownce from a student yesterday:

[S]o [C]hase, when [I] google stuff to find links to help me out for my posts [I]'m starting to get my own work!
[It's] driving me crazy. Just wanted to tell you for no reason.

She's not the first person to find herself when searching for new information on her benchmark project. I was hoping this would happen. I could have preached the shortcomings of the almighty Google, but they wouldn't look anywhere else until they truly needed it.

They've started needing it. They've started needing the deep web. We started talking about it today. A somewhat convoluted metaphor of Google being like the garbage men on my block and deep search engines being like the little old lady who picks up the actual litter started things off.

Wikipedia's entry on the Invisible Web says this about its size:

In 2000, it was estimated that the deep Web contained approximately 7,500 terabytes of data and 550 billion individual documents. Estimates, based on extrapolations from the study entitled How much information 2003?, from University of California, Berkeley, show that the deep Web consists of about 91,000 terabytes. By contrast, the surface Web, which is easily reached by search engines, is only about 167 terabytes. The Library of Congress contains about 11 terabytes, for comparison.

Philly schools have a subscription to EBSCO. It's one of the best kept secrets in the district. Now, EBSCO got me through college. Fully text searches were the reason I spent minimal time in the library (sorry Doug Johnson). Showing it to the kids today, though, I felt like I was handing them a Vespa in celebration of their 16th birthdays. For some, it got the job done. For others, more was needed.

Enter "99 Resources to Research & Mine the Invisible Web" and a tutorial from Berkeley on using the invisible web.

Not all of the tools were right for all the students - I know, I was shocked too. It's weird when they learn and see that it's important.

More later.

Seeing Themselves

2008-02-20T23:08:00.001-05:00

Part of the "Change the World" project that I hope you'll participate in and comment on here or here requires my kids to write 5 reflective posts about their progress.

The first was due last week. I wasn't sure what to expect. While my students' ability to write about their lives in their journals has been steady, I was worried asking them to reflect on their work in such a focused manner might give them problems.

Turned out my worries were misplaced. Julia writes:

From the explanation of this project as a whole, it seems unbearable. Completely impossible. My expectations were that there was no way I could do it. When I first looked it over, I didn’t even know how or where to begin. At this point in time though, I’m pleased with the progress I’m making on this project.

She goes on to make certain her audience doesn't confuse her progress with ease. Still, it was her last three sentences that got me:

I think the obstacles are there, but not impossible. Mostly, I think that as a 10th grade English class, we are doing something different and amazing. That’s the most satisfying progress so far.

She's excited about learning. While not every student is putting his or her excitement in quite the same form, something different is going on. Over the last few classes, I've answered questions about finding better sources, better change agents, writing letters, correctly formatting direct quotes...I mean a 10th grade student to asked how to set up a direct quote.

Sometimes, things go ok.

More later.

The problems we face

2008-02-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

Ms. Hull and I presented at PETE&C today. The coming "blizzard" likely affected attendance at our last session of the conference. Thank you weather for providing scape goat.

To get people thinking and break the Sit & Get mentality, we had those in attendance think of the 1-3 things keeping their building from breaking through to greatness.

They shared with the people sitting next and reported out.

Here's the list they generated:

Staff resistance
Keeping current
Lack of community support
Lack of a vision (clear vision)
Administration road blocks
Money $$$$
Lack of technicians
Lack of solutions
Deciding – dealing with overload
Blocking the server – firewalls
FEAR
Lack of voice for teachers
Need for communication from techs to teachers
Common language
Sense of community
Time
Pride

Read the list again - I had to. The topic of the presentation was "Planning the 21st Century School."
Aside from blocking the server, these are 20th Century problems. Replace server with "texts," "discoveries," "evolution," etc. and you've jumped in the Way-back Machine.

My invitation to you - pick a problem, any of the above or one specific to your building, and comment with a possible beginning to a solution. What can be done?
More later.

A outline for changing the world

2008-02-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

[Below is the description of the project I last posted about.]

Q3 English Benchmark Description
Social Action Project

Alignment with SLA Core Values

Inquiry: What is an issue affecting you at the local, state, national or global level that you can work to change?

Research: Identify the social, historical and scientific factors surrounding this issue. Identify realistic steps that can be taken to create positive change regarding this issue. Identify a change agent with capital (social, political or economic) necessary to work to improve the status of your issue.

Collaboration: While conducting your research, you will identify and subscribe to at least three RSS feeds from viable sources regarding your topic. Throughout the quarter, you will synthesize your information in the form of at least 10 blog posts to your SLA Drupal blog. Two of these posts must analyze the topic through the scientific lens, and two of these posts must examine the topic through a sociological or historic lens. You will also be responsible for subscribing to and commenting on the blog postings of two members of your stream as well as two members of the opposite stream.

Presentation: Based on your research and synthesis, you will create a 3-5 minute “elevator pitch” designed to convince your identified change agent to act on your issue. You will also create a research-based action plan outlining realistic steps that can be taken to improve conditions surrounding your issue.

Reflection: Given the cumulative nature of the understanding gained through this project, you will post 5 reflective posts charting your progress throughout the quarter with the fifth post to follow completion of the Presentation portion.

Skill Sets

Necessary Tech Skills:

Posting blog entries to Drupal
Searching and identifiying reliable information sources
Subscribing to RSS feeds

Necessary Social Skills:

Contacting change agent
Arranging face time with change agent
Providing productive feedback and support to peers

So...about the world, seems like it's time to change it

2008-02-10T17:13:00.001-05:00

My mom likes to tell the story of the first time she read me the biography of Martin Luther King Jr. I was all of 7 or 8 years old. As she tells it, there was a bit of a paradigm shift involved. I marched back and forth in my footie pajamas explaining to her that "it was wrong, why would someone kill him? Why would people hate other people because they looked different?" It was my first run in with some of the big questions that unfortunately continue to trouble the world.
Two weeks ago, we started the third quarter at SLA.
As I last posted, I seem to have challenged my kids to change the world in 9 weeks or less.
Friday, they started posting.
The basics are this:

Pick a problem.
Build a feed reader with at least three feeds on your problem and search/bookmark viable sites.
Throughout the quarter, write 10 informational posts using the information from your reader/bookmarked sites.
Throughout the quarter, write 5 reflective posts on your progress.
Draft an 3-5 minute "elevator pitch" for a possible change agent to show you know what you're talking about.
Draft an action plan around a realistic solution to the problem you've selected.
Meet with an identified change agent and present your pitch and action plan.

Friday, their first two posts were due. I've started reading them. Some good work from first-time bloggers. The next step is to help them build readerships. While I'm asking teachers at SLA to read and comment on posts regarding their areas of interest, I issue this call to anyone out there - read here or here and help teach our students.
I'll be linking the formal project and rubric descriptions soon.
More later.

Untitled

2008-02-07T16:30:00.001-05:00

My tenth graders created podcasts in the vein of This American Life. The results were varied, but by-and-large, impressive.
I'm speaking of the quality of the work, but also of the investment of the students. For the first time, truly, my students were engaging in work that meant something to them and a larger audience. We've blogged before. We've used wikis. Blah, blah, blah.
This assignment, however, was something else. They owned this. I took my hands off the wheel and trusted they'd know where to go.

One student who moved with his family to the states from Bangladesh five years ago interviewed his family on the decision to move an entire household. He interviewed his family in Bengali and had another Bengali student record a translation over the speaker. The work was fantastic and he put more time into getting the story right than I've seen him put into any other assignment this year. As an emerging language learner whose mastered the conversational vocabulary, but is still developing his academic vocabulary, he found a voice in this project that that has continued to augment his contributions to class discussion.

This quarter, a new project is at hand - Change the World. Admittedly, it didn't start out with that charge. After explaining to my first section of 10th graders that they were to pick a problem in the world, work to talk to a possible change agent and present that change agent with a feasible action plan, one student raised her hand and asked, "So, basically, you want us to change the world in 9 weeks?"

I paused for a beat and replied, "I guess so, yeah."

We're two weeks in and their first blog posts are due at midnight tomorrow. Each student is using his or her SLA Drupal account to document the process and information. All the posts are aggregated on the class pages. Their topics are wide-ranging and sights are set high.

If you've got a second, drop by Gold or Silver and leave a comment. They're finding feedback invigorating. Heck, I'm finding feedback invigorating.

More later.

One of my favorite things to do

2008-02-04T21:49:00.001-05:00

It's Monday night. Here I sit in my PJs with my gradebook up-to-date. I decide to reward myself.
I open the student contact file on my computer along-side my gradebook and pic a student who's doing well in class. I look up the number, dial and wait.
The voice on the other end clearly does not recognize my Floridian number on caller ID.
"This is Mr. Chase," says I, "Milana's English teacher."
"Yes..." a clearly uncertain pause.
"I was just calling to let you know how great it is to have your daughter as part of our class. She's one I can count on for insightful comments, and I'm impressed by how hard she's working on the Quarter 3 benchmark project."
The conversation goes on for a few minutes more. We talk about how I joined SLA after the year started - that's why she doesn't remember meeting me. We joke about keeping the call between the two of us so as not to inspire false confidence in her daughter.
Before we hang up, though, she says, "I don't know if this something you do personally as a teacher or what, but keep it up. This is one of the best phone calls I've gotten in a long time."
It's the best way to end a Monday I know.
When I was in Florida, I tried to make two positive phone calls home before I went home each day. I developed the habit after Hal Urban spoke at my first school.
Much can be said about setting the tone with parents, building relationships, etc.
That's part of why I do it, but it's not the bigger why.
I make those phone calls home because it makes me feel better. I make those phone calls because it pushes me, everyday, to look at the best of my students. In the hectic frenzy of any given school day, the least I can do is make certain I catch the best of my students.
No matter what happened before, the words, "This is one of the best phone calls I've gotten in a long time," made this a good Monday.

Wanted: Teachers

2008-01-29T17:19:00.001-05:00

While all the talk of teaching and students at Educon2.0 was enjoyable, it felt good to be back in the classroom Monday. Normally, that would be enough. This Monday was special.
Konrad Glogowski and I have been following each other's writings and thoughts for about two years. Though he tends to be immensely smarter than I, we share many ideas.
As we were leaving Educon2.0, on a whim, I asked Konrad what time he flew out Monday. Turned out he wasn't leaving until 7 pm.
Now, I'll say this plainly, my idea was to invite him to sit in one some classes. "Can I teach your class?" he asked jokingly - I'm fairly certain it was jokingly.
I'm not one to pass up a good idea.
Monday, Konrad rocked the house.
From sharing his own experience with poetry as a student to calling a student up to create an improvised poem where she opened up in what many would consider a vulnerable way, Konrad rocked the house.
After having the class walk within one block in any direction of SLA and "zoom in on what's important," we all returned to SLA's cafe and engaged in a discussion of poetry, revision, authorial choice, etc.
The thing that hit me was the fact it didn't matter to Konrad that the students spread out to write whilst the rest of the class discussed. Those same students dropped into and out of the conversation as they heard something worth their attention.
Over lunch, with several members of the SLA faculty, we debriefed. One thread of the discussion was on the use of space within SLA. Our classrooms extend beyond their 4 conventional walls. On any given day, my students can be found in cubbies, nooks, offices, hallway tables and floors outside my room learning.
I know this isn't unique. I'm glad it's not. The thing that struck me about the goings on during Konrad's lesson and the thoughts batted about during lunch, were the commonalities in our styles, our approaches and beliefs.
This speaks to my and Chris' contention that SLA is not unique. Chris said at Sunday's panel discussion that we sadly rare, but I'm not certain that is true either. We know how to connect, how to tell our story, how to engage with other like-minded individuals, and we're learning how to do each of those things more effecitvely. Our drive to tell our story may be the rarity. I have to believe that great things are happening in many classrooms and schools around the world; they just don't know how to talk about it yet.
What happened Monday was a first for me. Try it. Find a teacher in your network and invite them to teach your class. This could be via skype, via chat, via ustream, whatever method you choose. And, if I am part of your network, I offer this open invitation - come teach my class.

Spencer Wells Comes to SLA - Live Blogged

2008-01-17T12:14:00.001-05:00

Dr. Spencer Wells, Explorer in Residence at NG, heads Human Genographic Project

Goal is to answer the simple question of where people come from. Polled immigrant students on where their parents came from. How different are we, really?
Population geneticist - field trying to figure out the answer to that question.
How do you explain the patterns of human diversity?
Broken into sub-questions:
Are we, in fact, all related to each other?
how did we come to populate every corner of the globe and generate the diversity we see?

Darwin's second book, the Descent of man. In each great region of the world the living...
Darwin answered the question over a century ago, "We came from Africa." But Darwin was talking about ancient ancestry. Didn't address the issue of humans. He was talking about things that happened a long time ago.

Apes appear in Africa 23 million years ago.
Fist African exodus 15 million years ago.
We want to know about the origins of the human species, not apes.
Paleoanthropology - digging things up out of the ground and determining ancestry based on shape. Actually relies on very little data. Completely changes the interpretations of where we came from. Three species of hominids found in the same place. Were living in the same place in the same time. Don't know which we actually descended from.
Usually use shape as the only data. Linneas first gave us binomial nomenclature.
The question of origin is really a genealogical question.
3 billion units of DNA in each human cell.
Nice job of comparing copying a book by hand to copying of genetic material.
When they get passed down through the generations, they become markers of descent.
People are 99.9% the same. comparing genographic information from five people to search for variation.
Imagine the DNA sequences are like real words. We're looking at the variable information.
"FIX" and "CAT"
We count the number of changes to get us back to the common ancestor "DOG."
Africans have been accumulating these mutational changes longer than any other group of people. This means Darwin was correct and humans started in Africa. Left Africa 60,000 years ago.
Showing a map of believed migratory paths.
Book, The Journey of Man and PBS film of the same title.
Genographic Project:

Global DNA sampling
Public participation
A Legacy Fund

Regional offices with the goal of sampling indigenous people.
Between 100 and 300 million indigenous people in the world.
Can go on website and get yourself tested.
Net proceeds to legacy fund to help the indigenous tribes maintain educational and cultural programs.
Migrating from homelands to dominant cultures means a sacrifice of culture. About 6,000 languages spoken in the world today. Maybe only 500-600 languages spoken by the end of the century.
Indigenous cultures tell us about natural sources for treatment medicines. Losing cultural knowledge means losing links to important information.
Participants get deeper knowledge.
Showing information from Miss Hull. Showing a map of the migration of Hull's ancestors. Amazing. Her ancestors killed off the Neanderthals. Traced back to a single female ancestor, most successful female group.
Q&A:
Evolved more in the last 10,000 years than we did in the prev. 100,000.
We will be giving up hunter gatherers because of globalization.
Science and Religion: As a scientist, you have to stay away from religion and be as objective as you can. Average Brazilian has no idea what their ancestry is.
Are we turning back into monkeys? No evidence we are devolving.
Interesting question to end on.

Image Credit: http://einside.kent.edu/files/Feb192007/spencerwellscrop.jpg

On Editing

2008-01-15T09:18:00.001-05:00

Our 9th Graders are working on fractured fairy tales for their benchmark. Last night's homework was to complete their rough drafts. Because these will be incorporated into children's picture books, there's a word limit of 500. It does an English teacher's heart good to have students complaining they absolutely cannot write anything under 596 words.
In an effort to stem the onset of AEP (Adolescent Editing Phobia), I'm turning back to my roots - my college roots.
There were a few things I garnered from my formal college education, truly a few. One of them was comparative adverbial forms such as, "He slowed down more slowly than she did." The other was from Professor Bob Broad - The Writer's Memo.
I remember writing my first memo in Broad's class. I remember thinking it was a complete waste of time. I remember getting my draft back with memo and comments and realizing I had just learned something about editing.
Today, my 9th graders will be turning in their rough drafts, writing their memos and trading papers. I'm hoping for goodness. I realize not every student is going to get as much out of the writers memo as I did. Still, I'm hoping it will be a start to a larger conversation over what it takes to truly get worthwhile peer review happening on a draft.
If not, I'll move on to comparative adverbial phrases.
More later.

Image credit: http://flickr.com/photos/skylover/455669442/

Blogged with Flock

Frustrations in Radioland

2008-01-14T16:57:00.001-05:00

My 2.0 tools are running into Beta problems.
Currently, my tenth graders are working on creating podcasts in the vein of "This American Life" by interviewing and recounting the stories of people they may or may not know around the theme of sacrifice. This all ties back to the plight of Janie from Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.
We spent days listening to stories and watching some superb material from Current posted on Youtube where Ira Glass explains storytelling. We deconstructed, timelines were created, and now...
A handful of students are creating some superb content. The majority look at me in class as though I'm completely unreasonable not lower my expectations.
The thing is, my frustration comes from my inability to take them any further in the process. At some point, I have to say, "That's all the scaffolding I can provide." My frustration comes from giving them all the tools I can to help them succeed and then having to step back. My frustration comes from realizing I can't actually do the work for them and achieve the ultimate goal.
Many of my students have decided their success depends on an external locus of control. Mainly, this happens when they come to the portion where they must edit the material they've collected. As much as I warned, (and it often included much failing about whilst speaking) many of the students approached editing as though it were an afterthought. This is not at all unlike their approach to editing in the writing process. Unfortunately they come to the rather stark realization that this whole process takes supreme amounts of focus. At that point, any number of reasons are batted about as to why they cannot complete the project.
One class' audio is due tomorrow. I'm not sure what to expect.
The question that circles in my head is what can be done? This is not a new problem - for me or any educator. And so, here's the point of reflection, what's to be done?
If nothing else, the situation is a lovely example of the fact it's not the tools that get kids to succeed.
And then...
As I finished typing the last sentence a student walked in to ask where he needed to return the Snowball mic he had been using. The student had been working for two-and-a-half hours to translate an interview he'd done with his father about the decision to move his family from Bangladesh 5 years ago and the effect it had on the student.
Mind you, this is a student I've seen limited academic work from thus far, mainly because the academic vocabulary develops so much more slowly than the conversational vocabulary. He's here, two-and-a-half hours after school ended. That's never happened with a traditional writing assignment.
Maybe I'm not doing everything right, but maybe I'm doing something right.
More later.

Image from http://flickr.com/photos/perikita/141716937/

Pownce!

2008-01-07T09:59:00.001-05:00

My inbox held this message last night:

You're invited to Pownce!

I'd forgotten I'd signed up for an invite to Pownce a little over a month ago. In fact, I'd forgotten what it was. Given the pace at which tools hit the web, I'm hesitant to try many things out. Pownce wins.

Think of it as "Twitter on steroids" as Marcie said. The setup is similar, but it's also ready with a desktop app that runs on Adobe AIR.

The big draw for me is the range of tools Pownce brings to the table:

No 140-character limit which was cute in the beginning, but frustrating when I need to say something more intricate.
10 MB file transfer capabilities (100 MB if you pony up the $20/yr. for a pro account)
Link posting capabilities (I know this is easy in twitter, but it's still nice.)
Event posting capabilities.

Now, I'm also a fan of the little things. A person's Pownce profile page will also hold contact info. from pretty much any social networking, IM or web-based presence you can think of. It's a one-stop shop to look at a person's online footprint and has already proved itself helpful in tracking down a friend's info.

So, I've a few invites left for Pownce for those who are interested (It's still in Beta, so admission is invite-only). As soon as the network's big enough, I'll be deleting my twitter account. Yeah, that's how much I believe in it.

It will be interesting to see if/how soon this app gets snatched up by the likes of Google, Myspace, Facebook or the like.

Off the Road Again

2007-12-05T11:56:00.000-05:00

Back in the classroom after a week in Long Beach working with the Freedom Writers Foundation to engage, enlighten and empower a group of 30 educators from across the country. It was my first extended absence from SLA, and I wasn't sure how things would play out with my sub.
Moodle was helpful in automating my class, but the substitute was, shall we say, "colorful."
While that could be seen as working for me in that my students heralded my return, the loss of face time, of structure, of concrete learning in my absence was worrisome.
While I'm uncertain of the degree to which I should accept the truthfulness of their statements, my students reported the substitute teacher said that iPods were outlawed in the city of Philadelphia, that working in groups was not allowed (I left a group assignment and outlined it as such in my lesson plans) and that moodle was off limits.
I hate leaving my kids with anyone else. It comes with the vibe of teaching the "Classroom of Love." Still, I should be able to. The tools exist. In many lessons, I approach the goal of facilitating self-directed learning over simply teaching.
Why, then, does leaving the room to a substitute create the havoc it does? The substitute teacher was a former full-time educator, she has had her own classroom. As such, the execution of the lesson plan should have been simple and effective. Though across the country, I was still facilitating. And yet.
The system was broken somewhere. That's my initial response. Further consideration pushes me to think that perhaps the teacher, the actual person, is of more importance than thought. The tools, the collaboration, the self-direction - all tied up with the presence of the teacher.
Is this true? Poke holes.
More later.

A Convoluted Job? (This title means it's about something that missed the mark.)

2007-10-21T21:53:00.000-04:00

A classroom pushes upon a teacher a daily, sometimes hourly, choice - say what my big boy brain knows is right or hand control over to 5-year-old me.
One of what I hope are a multitude of reasons I am entrusted with the growth and development of young minds is my proclivity to listening to my big boy brain. Mocking a student's ideas would undermine what we're (teachers and students) all in the classroom to do - build, challenge and support. It would also invalidate whatever community or trust has been created in the classroom.
The same is to be said of a faculty meeting. We're in the room to improve how we put our axioms into practice. Again, the big boy brain is the tool of choice. Tearing down a colleague's idea in a way that also calls into question the integrity or ability of that colleague would open the door to me teaching in isolation - and not by choice.
I preface with these statements because it gets to the meat of what's been troubling me about James Farmer's post "A Con-Job?" Farmer takes issue with the axioms on which EduCon 2.0 is built. More specifically, he seems to take issue with the semantics of those axioms.
Though EduCon is to take place at my school, I've little interest in arguing for or against Farmer's thinking (others are involved in that discussion). My interest is really in the tone of the post.
It's a cat post. It's talking about someone and then pretending you weren't when they walk up. Most importantly, it's not helpful. That's what gets stuck in my craw. Farmer's tone is one of degradation. It does not strike the reader as a post interested in discourse, but of one interested in disarming. Were a colleague to "poke holes" in an argument of mine or of a peer using words and phrases like "codswaddle" and "No shit, Sherlock" the conversation would be over. Though it could be argued an axiom should make one respond with such an Arthur Conan Doylian invocation of the vernacular.
It could be argued the post was not meant for discussion, but then why choose a global forum?
It could be argued that Farmer was unaware of the tone of the post. This is unlikely from someone whose own axiom states:

"Too often we hold back users through unnecessary constraints when we could be encouraging expression, exploration and achieving far greater success through incorporating subversion."

An "unnecessary constraint" exists in Farmer's tone. Rather than welcoming forthright debate, he chooses language that operates more on a level of mockery. Any hopes of an elevated argument are lost in his eliciting of ire and emotion. This is bad design. To be sure, Farmer has incorporated subversion, so long as there's such a thing as self-subversion.

Long Time Gone

2007-09-30T23:22:00.001-04:00

So, a bit's happened since last I posted. If you permit, a bit on my personal life. I'll get back to the professional hobnobbery soon.

Three weeks ago, I received an e-mail, now I live in Philadelphia and start tomorrow with the gang at the Science Leadership Academy. The last few weeks have been some of the most trying and growth forcing of my life. Tonight, I sit in the living room of a new colleague who is giving me shelter after my initial hopes of an apartment fell through waiting for the first home-cooked meal in over three weeks.
Tomorrow, I visit the wonderful people of the central office of the Philadelphia public schools and work out exactly how I'll be securing my emergency certification.
After the day is done, I'll be signing a lease and moving in to a new apartment.
The process of packing up my life, bidding farewell to my Floridian friends, telling my students, working out out-of-state certification, has been trying.
With even the little perspective that one day in Philly has offered, it is a grand and exciting adventure that I've embarked upon.
New students, new peers, new tools, a new city (I'm all about listing at the moment) - they await me on this new horizon.
One of the aspects that interests me is the continued communication that will happen between my students in Florida and I. Through this blog, my teacher myspace page, e-mail and ANGEL, we will be able to participate and educate one another from afar. I don't have a clear picture of what that will entail, but I know I look forward to the new lexicon to be formed by all parties.
For now, I prepare for the coming day and credit my arrival for the good fortune of the Phillies this afternoon. I wonder if I can take them all the way to the World Series.

What it Takes...

2007-08-30T19:15:00.001-04:00

After a week and a half of engaging kenesthetic activities. I changed directions with my students today. We talked. That was it. We talked. They wrote, they thought and we talked.
The opening question - their bellwork, what got the ball rolling - was a simple query, "Is diversity a good thing?"
Underneath, on the board, read the parenthetical note, "If you do not know the definition of 'diversity,' look in your dictionary."
Let me say this before moving on - they actually looked in the dictionary. Even better, at tables where both students were stymied as to the denotative meaning of the word, I watched as one table partner waited patiently (not getting off task) for the other person to finish with their Webster's work so they could have a full understanding. It really is an amazing thing to see such dedication to getting it right.
As is oft my role, when they had written their initial thoughts, I played devil's advocate depending on the majority's opinion. It really was some fantastic discussion.
At the end of 7th period, Jamie announced to the class, "This class made me think some things that I didn't think before." Any educator knows it's not often that you get a child to realize, let alone pronounce, a paradigm shift.
One of the places a few of the discussions wound around to was shoes. I polled the class on an acceptable maximum amount for an 8th grader to spend on a pair of shoes. We had been talking footwear as an example of following the crowd rather than one's one drum. Jordan's were the favorite though none of my students was alive to see MJ play live. The mean acceptable price was around $110.
We talked about why brand names were "important" and whether or not acquiring one's clothing from Wal-Mart was a mark of shame. The whole thing set me to thinking about where to take the discussion next. Not with every class, just the ones who showed interest. After a little reflection, here's what I've got:

Each student picks a country (most likely a Third World counry).
They use the CIA World Factbook to find: children per capita, average annual income per capita, possibly mortality rate per capita
Each student then finds the retail price for each item it took to prepare him/her for school that day. (This would include hygeine products, et al.)
The student finds the total cost of being him/her and multiplies it x7 to get the cost per week.
The student then compares the findings.

The question is - what do they do with this info.? I'm sure it will be eye-opening, but what real purpose can they put it to? Where do they go after they realize "what it takes to be them?"
Anxious for thoughts and suggestions. Anyone have a class they'd like to have compare themselves to mine?
More later.

The First Week

2007-08-24T11:04:00.001-04:00

It's only been five days and my room smells like stale coffee again. I'm not certain I can't say the same for the inside of my body as well.

I'm finally keeping up with my feeds again, and reading some great stuff. For whatever reason, I can't access twitter via G-chat. Luckily, I've got twitbin to keep me connected.

My kids this year are tremendous. I've almost 120 students and they have each impressed me in some way already. I'm trying to make at least two calls home each night - positive calls.

Two nights ago, I called and spoke to a mother to tell her how impressed I was that her son didn't miss a beat after being out sick for a day on the first week. She told me she had already seen an improvement in self-confidence after three days and that her son had begged to go to school with a fever the day he was out. I thanked her for saving us from and endemic before I hung up the phone.

I feel like we're all on our game even more than last year. We started with a non-traditional open house. I'm teaching Grades 8 and 10 this year. Rather than rotating parents and students through each classroom and having them listen to teacher presentations that were remarkably similar, we set up paperwork in the literacy center and all of the teachers were available to talk in the common area. Here's the key, we made it a potluck dinner.

Some people on campus felt slight trepidation over whether or not our parents would show, let alone bring a dish to share. Their concerns were not without reason; our first year, about 7 familes showed up for our Open House. This year, we were only missing 7 families out of the 8th grade! It was tremendous. I got to shake each student's hand, find out a little about them and eat brownies. It's not a perfect world, but it's close to it.

This first week has been dedicated to class/family building and policies and procedures. Today, we wrap up the Coat of Arms project procured from Erin Gruwell. The first day, they were quiet and not too engaged. It was a slow start. Today, as the deadline hung in front of them, students who were already finished sat next to students who were a little behind and helped search for and cut out images that symbolized their goals, achievements and things/people of value.

I have been operating at 11 for the entire week. I had also forgotten how exhausting teaching is when you do it right. I haven't had the energy to go for a run after the marathon that is the school day. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. This weekend's agenda? Sleep. Maybe a little response to some entry and exit tickets.

Lesson plans? I've got the next two weeks planned out. It's a weird feeling.

More later.

Grrr and Argh

2007-08-09T14:26:00.001-04:00

I sent a package to a friend of mine yesterday. He's heading into his first year of teaching and I want to give him all of the support I can. It wasn't until I jumped online and read a column from the paper back home that I realized the package I sent was intellectually racy.
Inside, it held a copy of The Essential 55 by and Life's Greatest Lessons by Hal Urban. Both are books that saw me through my first years of teaching and to which I continue to turn. According to the column, though, one of the leaders of my district worries that The Essential 55 could be taken as condescending. Ron Clark is white, his students when he taught in Harlem were mainly African American and Latino.
Apparently, Clark was on the shortlist of keynote speakers at our back-to-school meeting. Last year's speaker was Willard Daggett and the year before that was Erin Gruwell.
According to the column, and I'm not taking any of it as gospel, the district administrator had reservations about Clark speaking because he thought it could be taken as condescending to listen to stories of how Clark took his students from Harlem on horizon-expanding field trips. Clark's efforts to teach etiquette in preparation for a trip to a formal restaurant reportedly found a particular sticking place in the administrator's craw. Lyons implies the administrator believes Clark's speech is condescending because he is a white teacher who was working mainly with students who didn't look like him. I'm not sure what to make of it or how those beliefs would reflect on my own teaching.
Two things are happening here that have me frustrated.
One, I'm none-too-impressed with Lyons' reporting. The column could have been held for next week in order to include the asst. superintendent's side of the story. As it reads now, the column is another in a growing collection of pieces that makes teachers and the school district feel as though they are at odds with the press.
The other element of contention is with the idea that the central office wasn't immediately forthcoming with the details.
Again, all we have to go on is what Lyons saw fit to print, but the idea that the district's spokesman tried to sidestep the issue at fist blush isn't exactly going to make any inroads toward a strong relationship between the district and the press. This is to say nothing of the fact that the column was going to run with or without the administrator's quote, so it makes more sense to be open on the front end than to have to clean up after the parade has passed by.
From both sides, we (community members and district employees) need sincerity over spin.
More later.

I love how this guy thinks...

2007-07-27T22:52:00.001-04:00

From Darren Kuropatwa:

Imagine a 20 minute lecture where all your students back channel about what you're saying. Outside guests or experts are invited in. Someone acts as a "rudder" to keep the conversation on track. The discussion is displayed on a SMARTboard or with a projector. The chatcast is immediately dumped into a wiki. The rest of the class is devoted to reorganizing the wiki clarifying what was said, answering questions (student to student as well as teacher to student; and don't forget the people, students, teachers, mentors or parents beyond the glass walls of the room) summarizing the big ideas, reframing the discussion in terms of what needs to be explained again and where we're going next. Imagine the possibilities ...

I want to be in that classroom as a student and as a teacher!

Long Time Gone

2007-07-27T21:06:00.001-04:00

It's been too long since I last posted. Not on purpose. I flew out to Long Beach directly after the Denver conference and jumped right in with the Freedom Writers Foundation. Tuesday, we wrapped up the July Freedom Writers Teacher Institute.
Twenty-four teachers ventured to Long Beach, CA for 5 days of truly empowering collaboration. I was fortunate enough to be part of June's Institute as well. Thus far, I've had the chance to meet each of the teachers going through the program including the frenetic bunch that with whom I went through.
Something is truly energizing about bonding with 20-some people with the same heart for kids.
The ties are truly amazing.
When I returned to Sarasota last October from my turn at the Institute, my friends and colleagues were eager to hear about my trip. The interest was strong and the questions the same, "So, what was it like?" "What did you guys do out there?" "What was Erin like?" even "Was it fantastic?"
I stumbled around like a zombie when I returned home. I was able to chalk it up to jetlag, but it was something more than that.
Every once in a while, I need to be reminded of why I'm a teacher, of the sense of purpose I that motivated me to enter the profession.
As it turns out, I didn't become a teacher to help students incorporate technology in their learning. I don't know that I even became a teacher to give kids the chance to work and think collaboratively. Hard as it is to believe, it wasn't to administer standardized tests or bring up flagging scores.
It actually all comes down to showing up everyday to show kids they have they have power, choices, ability and promise when they think that they do not.
I realize the details of the process are more intricate and the path much more winding than the idealism of my purpose appears to acknowledge, but I've got to remember that's where I'm rooted.
I had a chance during this last session to meet teachers who are truly amazing in their love and passion for helping their kids. Time and again, though, I heard these same teachers say they were unworthy or not up to snuff.
We cannot allow for the perpetuation of a system that takes its most dedicated workers and breaks them and makes them feel they are less than.
It's a big system, widely fractured. Still, when the last FWTI is complete, 150 teachers will have been trained and connected, creating a nationwide network of support and activism.
Many students have walked through my classroom door bruised or broken by what life has thrown at them. Though their maturity may mask and delay the effects, the same is happening to teachers.
Often, when we speak of teacher attrition, it is in reference to the difficulty of replacing them with new hires. Our focus must be on retention. How do you keep a great teacher in the classroom?
More later.

NSDC Breakout Session 2: Closing the Male Literacy Gap

2007-07-17T14:07:00.001-04:00

[Live Blogged]

Kelly King, Principal
Dawn Ryan, Teacher
Boulder Valley Schools

Doing personal intros. Just got a tease of brain research. I'm feeling a little excited.

Showing a cartoon, "I need you to line up by attention span."

Telling a story by grown men to illustrate differences between boys and girls. I'm engaged. Boys throwing darts at each other in the dark.

Using cooperative learning to share brain research. My fact, "Boys get bored more easily than girls, requiring more varied stimulation to keep them attentive."

Just talked about the use of music as a buffer between conversations.

Stress hormones "coritzol(sp?)" go up when you're low on the pecking order.

"PET scans show the resting female brain is as active as the male brain working on a problem."

This creates different tendancies in motivational patterns between male and female brains.

Going to talk about male and female brains definitively for the purpose of making points.

"There are actual physical structural differences between the male and female brains."

Obj:
1. "at-riskness" among boys
2. understand chem. and struc. differences between male and female brains.
3. learn about effective inst. practice for addressing brain needs of both boys and girls.

Girls are outperforming boys in all industrialized countries in reading literacies.

(me - exam Phoenix's writing scores by gender)

Showing data on improvement of boys' scores since the school began focusing on boys.

They were in the Newsweek article "The Boy Crisis."

"With Boys and Girls in Mind" Education Leadership, Nov. 2004. - great stats. on boy achievement.

Collaborative investigation of a fact that we find interesting. Partner is "take the answers down 5 'whys'." (me - I want this slideshow)

For every 100 girls...

...suspended from school, there are 250 boys.
...expelled from school, there are 335 boys.
...who earn a masters degree, there are 62 males.

"Just the Facts" cards?

Sit and Get is tolerated by the neurological make-up of girls.
Biology is for cavemen. Sociology is advanced.

Key Brain Differences Impacting Learning:
New Yorker cover with "make-up" of teen brain.

Verbal-Spatial Difference: females have more coritcal areas in brain for verbal thinking. More resources for putting emotions into words.
Males more spatial thinking cortical areas. Males may need to prime pump before jumping in to descriptive writing. Females may need to hold model to get to thinking about concepts like rotating things in space.

Memory and Sensory Difference: Girls sing in tunes 6x more often. More boys are prone to color-blindness. Females see sharper more vivid color, more sensitive touch and acute sense of taste. This goes back to survival. Male better are depth perception, tracking objects through space, better at navigating through spatial areas. You recall an event using the senses you collected it with. Prime the pump differently to get more detail.

Frontal Lobe Development: develops in mid-20s for females, early 30s for males. Suppresses impulsive behavior. This is part of writing and risk-taking behaviors.

Cross-Talk Between the Hemispheres: Females have 20% more thickening between corpus colosum than males. More nerves, more communication between hemispheres. Male brain compartmentalizes and lateralizes brain activity. Female brain disperses activity around the brain to solve the same problem. When there's a learning problem, it's more difficult for the male brain to delegate problems. This points to stroke recovery and females regaining speech function better. Males tend to operate more in the left hemisphere, females in right hemisphere. Right side thinks more about problems and anxieties. 75% of divorces are initiated by females. Male brain is more learning fragile (disabilities). Female brain more emotionally fragile (anxiety, eating disorders, depression). Compartmentalization can lead to boys focusing on one thing and blocking other input out.

Natural Aggression: Testosterone (males), Oxytosin (bonding hormone) (females), oxytosin spikes in males during sex then goes back down again. Oxytosin inspires girls to want to be liked, fit in, belong. Boys have less oxytosin which creates a disconnect between boy investment in school.

Neural Rest States: Boys are gone when they go there. Girls can still be intaking a little bit. Might as well be talking to a wall at this point with boys.

Need natural light for good brain chemistry.

Book Suggestions:
Action-Packed Classrooms, Summerford (K-5)
Learning with the Body in Mind, Jensen
Action Strategies..., Wilhelm

Asked fourth grade writing students to act out the differences between "editing" and "revising" without speaking. Leader was responsible for interpreting movements.

What a complete sentence is: Took sentence strips, color coded nouns, verbs and finishers. Gave each of 5 groups a bunch of possibilities with a "Bank of Punctuation." Gave kids 5 minutes to build complete, perfectly-punctuated sentences. Had to explain, "why they needed a comma or an exclamation point instead of a period."

(me - audience is entirely engaged!)

Boys have less access to sensory details. This makes it more difficult for them to integrate those details into their writing.

Inverse relationship between quality of illustration and volume (quality?) of writing.

Bring in music to create a mood, think of colors that would create a mood and THEN put that mood into words. Need to do more priming of the pump for boys.

Putting vocab. words to music. Spelling words with elbows and then backsides. (hilarious!)

Too many words make the ideas too difficult. 8 purposes of writing simplifies things. Give them right visual-spatial tools to kids for the job you're trying to get them to do. Visual construct must match intended verbal output.

Video games give things a better safety for pecking order movement.

Throw gender grouping into small grouping every once in a while. Expand topics that appeal to boys. Stop censoring boys interests.

"A good book for a boy is one he wants to read." (Moloney, 2002)

In writing classroom, use "crappy prompts" to get kids to make writing their own.

"If the bum is numb, the brain is the same."

I'm Glad I'm a Boy, I'm Glad I'm a Girl (1970)

"Me Read? No Way!" - Ontario Provincial Government

NSDC Concurrent Session 1: Breaking Barriers to Learning

2007-07-16T15:31:00.001-04:00

Live Blogging: Norwalk Community School District in Iowa

Starting off the presentation by showing Karl Fisch's "Did you Know? 1.0" I wonder how many people in the room have seen this before.

I wonder how many presenters will be using this. I wonder how many presenters will be making their own. Why not?

Just got through the "Name this country..." I always want to shout out the answer.

In under a year, how much of this information is outdated? Not to mention how many schools and districts will be presenting it at back-to-school events this year as though it's new?

Presentation Beginning:
How am I going to prepare students for a world that's not in existence now?

Quoting Pink's A Whole New Mind and three essential questions.
1. Can someone overseas do it more cheaply?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the monmaterial transcendent...

Prereq. Friedman quote: There are no more "American Jobs." There are only jobs.

Only 1/3 of school districts in Iowa are growing.

Not sure our mission statement is different from many others. What's different is how we act on them.

They have 7 student learning goals.
1. Communication Skills
2. Thinking and reasoning skills
3. interpersonal skills
4. personal and social responsibility
5. learning to learn (warlick happy?)
6. Technology
7. Expanding and integrating knowledge

Goals drafted after community input and search for a theme.

Referencing: Indicators of schools of quality.

We, as a district, were starting to form what's important to us. Modified indicators to align with parents, community and staff. Printed NSCC as their own.

Complete survey every 2-3 years.
Ask where students are and where they want to go next.

Referencing PLCs and Rick DeFour. Mission statements look alike. Vision statements look alike. Belief statements are special to schools/districts. (me- does SRQ have belief statements?)

Guided by values in decision making.

SLCs are very important. Have looping and traditional. Full-inclusion model.

Belief 5: Common knowledge base for students. (me - who decides knowledge base?)

Speaking on teachers saying they didn't think they did anything special.

Systemic issue.

Parent approached one of them and said they didn't live up to belief statement.

Talking about Iowa Professional Development Model and how it is a collaborative effort including ALL stakeholders. Even high ed.

IPDM:
Focus on curric., instruction and assessment.
Shared decision-making
leadership
Simultaneity.

Constant Cycle of PD.

Simultaneity is a growing requirement in education (me - are our kids there already?)

6-year curric. assessment evaluation cycle.

Curriculum will provide success with 80% of students.

Years 4-6 work to find out what curric. did do for other 20%.

No state standards in Iowa (me - !?!?!?!)

8 Iowa Teaching standards made up of 42 criterion: build teacher portfolio (NGT?)

Their content areas rotate to ensure constant curricular reform. There's a systemic cycle built in. (me - replicable on a larger scale?)

Data is imperative. (me - are we measuring what's going to matter?)

One word to describe Norwalk - collaboration.

They have 26 School Improvement Advisory Committees.

Quoting Gardner on Transformational Leadership.
Quoting Marzano's School Leadership that Works.

Assessing administrators not just teachers. Marzano's 21 administrative characteristics. Did a time audit in 15-minute increments.

Pausing for reflection. Back to work.

(me - we've been sitting for over an hour, I'm sitting and getting.)

Discussion State Accreditation process

"MetaAnalysis" is a smart-sounding word that engenders much unquestioning reverence.

(me - is this good teaching?)

NSSE - Survey of Goals for Student Learning.

End-of-Year report required for each SIAC for website and newspaper.

Out-of-School programs effective for lower elementary and high school according to McREL.

Acknowledging errors in last year's summer program and addressing how they are corrected.

Teacher talking now about moving back to Norwalk because of collaboration. Saying the program didn't make sense at first, but now has a better understanding of the big picture.

Also referencing Gardner's Five Minds for the Future.

NSDC Summer Conference Opening Keynote

2007-07-16T15:30:00.001-04:00

[live blogging the session]

Encouraging us to take every minute to learn from others.
Make a committment to actions. Every teacher needs to stand up to the plate of teacher leadership.

Sue McAdamis - NSDC Board PRes.

Mentioning sponsors.
Recognizing organizers.
There were 19 organizers on the stage, all educators - one man.

Sharing meals, networking and engaging in reflective conversations.
Encouraging us to be risk-takers. Sit with people we don't know and take reflective thoughts.
Avoid side conversations, turn off noisy stuff and give full attention.
Today's take-away is a bookmark made by 4th-grade students.
Another take away at lunch to inspire conversation at lunch.
The practice of deep reflection leads to knowledge and ultimately increases student achievement.

Denver public schools innovative teacher compensation program.

Welcome Phil Gonrey (sp) of the Rose Foundation

me - I wonder if "Rocky Mountain High" is played at every Colorado convention.

Denver first to make cheeseburger.

2nd producer of lamb
1st producer of millet (small seed grain grown in a difficult environment - sounds a lot like a school)

Introducing - Joellen Killion and Stephanie "Nikki" Rivera

It's not about choice, structural changes or market reform.

We understand that education is a human capitol issue.
Smart, dedicated well-trained people with the right incentives and the right support can do amazing things with kids.

Our grant-making has been focused on the simple fact that there si a tremendous genius in teachers and given the resources teachers can do amazing things.

Killion - Deputy Exec. Dir. of NSDC "taking the lead: new roles for teacher leaders..."
Rivera - clinical prof. in Adams 12 district, master teacher who assumes a leadership role in the dev. of pre-service and novice teachers.

Killion/Rivera:

Importance of aligning actions with beliefs. Beliefs are what we stand for. Beliefs challenge and facilitate work. Give courage and direction. Help take a stand. Re-assessment of beliefs increases integrity. beliefs Riv. now holds are not the same ones she held when she started as a coach. Started by giving resources. Stopped doing that because it created dependence.

Talking about the importance of not creating dependence as a coach. Haven't integrated beliefs until we experience them in a real-world setting.
Each experience provides us an opportunity to discover beliefs.
Admitting difference between what they believe/say they believe and what they actually do.
Two kinds of beliefs: beliefs in action and espoused beliefs.
"Reading my life as a textbook is a good way to discover if my life reflects my beliefs."
focus on student assessment that are true to accomplishment.
Fundamental beliefs of teacher leaders and coaches:
1. Let Go
2. believe in possibilities.
3. keep promises
4. do you best always
5. check perceptions

1. Let Go: Talking about difference between espoused/action in reference to imposing answers or letting community find solutions. Did not act on espoused belief. "What do you want?" "To be right." What did you get? Frustration and resistence. What did you learn? Being right didn't matter...they mattered. Let go of the need to fic and heal and rescue and repair others. Work rather on yourself. - Scot Peck "A different Drum."
(me- this is a basic tennet of improv)

2. Possibilities: (me, using narrative to show points) Lesson Study Protocol. Rolled out LSP with one team with no new teachers. Debriefing went well. Three years ago, school still using LSP. By believing in poss. these students and teachers are growing. Support and scaffolding gave every chance for success.

3. Keeping your Promises: Promised to send protocol when she got home. Did not send as she promised. Didn't remember. Got call Tuesday of the next week. Disappointment that the protocol didn't show up. Horrified. Made promise and didn't follow through. Sometimes not conscious of the promises we make. "See you later. Meeting starts at 3:30. Meet you in the library. I'll send that when I get home." (me - Four Agreements: Be impeccable in your word.) Loss of integrity leads to loss of trust leads to inability to engage with others. no objection can be read as a promise. Failure to keep promises is a choice that endangers the relationship.

4. Do your best, always: (me - Another Four Agreements: Always do your best.) Using story to explain points. She's a biking enthusiast. Went on trip to France. Promises of travel company's website didn't come through. People on buses were acting horrible. Coordinators listened to clients and wrote down complaints. Explained circumstances but didn't make excuses. On the last day, asked coord. how he was doing with near mutiny. On the bus. sitting in front of her, turned and said, "Life, is 10% what happens to you. 90% how you react to it." What a beautiful example of doing your best, always. Guiding belief was getting him through difficult situation. Often faced with visible and invisible mutinies.

5. Check your perceptions: Sometimes I make up explanations of things that I don't understand. Assumptions from wonderings. Andrea (teaching 3 years, tapped to be a coach). Doing observation of teacher. Andrea was conscious of butterflies. More severe than normal. Teacher she was observing had been her teacher. Facing a severe case of role reversal. How was she going to be able to give feedback to this teacher? Anxiety grew as lesson continued. Assumed feedback session would be horrible. Teacher sat, put hands on top of Andrea's. "Andrea, many years ago, I had the pleasure of being your teacher. I look forward now to you being my teacher." Andrea dissolved into tears. (me - etymological difference between "perception" and "assumption"?) "If I don't know something, it's best to check, clarify or hold curiosity about it." Withhold the drive to make up stories to explain what we don't know. (me - this is Covey "Seek first to understand and then to be understood.")

When we stand for what we believe, we are more authentic. When we take a stand for our beliefs, we make a difference for teachers and their students.

NSDC's new purpose statement - Every educator participates in effective professional development everyday so that every student learns.

A cellular classroom?

2007-07-15T09:53:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking recently about what technology I can expect my kids to have next year. We're still not at a place where Internet access is at 100% (my kids tend to hover around 80%).
What I can almost always know my students (last year it was 95%) will possess is a cell phone.
Of course, my school has the posted "Use your phone and the world around you will come crashing to a hault" policy. We can work around that.
So, here's the question, what are you doing in your classroom to integrate/embed cell phones into instruction? Where are the resources built around cell phones in education?
Does a wiki already exist with this info.? If not, it does now. If you've got anything you can contribute, post away.
More later.

Ubiquitous does not equal free

2007-07-15T09:34:00.001-04:00

A bit of a typo on my trip itinerary led me to arrive at the Tampa International Airport about 4 hours ahead of schedule this morning. I can honestly say that has never happened before. I don't mind so much chilling at the airport. Free wireless, blogs and news to read, Starbucks in my system. The problem was waking up at 4 a.m. to get here "on time." Still, nothing I can do about it now.

I was looking at the hotel I'll be staying at while attending the National Staff Development Council Conference in Denver. Decided to check up on wireless access. Three page clicks in and I found this:

Every convenience is yours in our 360 sq.ft. Denver Colorado accommodations, including Continental breakfast, on-site business center, work station with ergonomic chair and wired/wireless Internet access (fee applies). Enjoy Rocky Mountain or city views from our luxurious downtown Denver accommodations, plus two telephones, 32-inch, flat-screen TV and one king or two double Hyatt Grand Beds with plush pillows, soft sheeting and thick down blankets piled upon a pillow-top mattress.

I might be the only one who thinks this strange. A 32-inch, flat-screen TV and I still have to pay for Internet access?
During my trip home last week, I stayed at La Quinta on the way up and back. La Quinta of Chattanooga boasts:

Guest Room Amenities

Free High-Speed Internet Access in some rooms
Dataport Phones
Cable Television
Coffee Maker
Hair Dryer
Iron with Ironing Board
Alarm Clock

Sure, my television wasn't flat, but my access was free. That was for $40/night. Baffled I tell ya, baffled!
More later.

Is using new tools for old things acceptable?

2007-07-11T15:20:00.001-04:00

Here's what's happened:

Jennifer Dorman posted her reply to Will Richardson's post about the effects/changes brought about by twitter.
Will posted a twit saying he had finished writing a column and was heading to lunch. He added that he didn't know why he was writing what he was writing.
I responded to Will asking if twitter made him feel more connected and why he would share those bit of info. outside the twitterverse. (Will did not respond because he is not following my twits. But...)
Vicki Davis (who is a friend on twitter) twitted to Will saying he twitted to make our day and "Who knows - why do we write anything in here?"
I twitted to Vicki asking if twitter provided a sense of community and likened it to chatting with the postman about neighborhood events.
Vicki responded she learns about breaking events "microblogging and aggregated from the 'horse's mouthes'."
I responded to Vicki with the question, and I'm putting this out there for everyone, "Does twitter serve a purpose/need/interest that was previously unmet?"

This all leads to the question that serves as the post title and the bulk of my response to Jennifer. Are blogging, skyping, twittering, etc. really new? Are we doing new things or doing old things on a bigger scale? I can't think of a 2.0 tool that doesn't do something old in a new way.

blogging = letters/e-mail (we can count e-mail as old school now, right?)/book or prof. journal publishing/message board
skype = phone calls/having coffee with friends
twitter = chatting up the postman/getting the news at the barbershop (I grew up in the country, it really happens.)/eavesdropping
aggregator = periodical subscriptions

The tools are new, the functions are the same.

What then, is the big deal?

Jennifer Dorman is in Pennsylvania.
Will Richardson lives in New Jersey and was twitting from Wisconsin.
Vicki Davis is in Georgia
I am in Florida.

Scale, diversity, depth.

Using new tools toward old means is not inherently a negative practice. I can participate in an informal global conversation (scale) with professionals from varied backgrounds/mindsets (diversity). That conversation with thinkers outside my immediate real-world environment bring a diversity of thought I would not have encountered having the same conversation with the same people in the same environment. New perspectives push my thinking in new directions (depth) and drive me look at issues more deeply. That augmented thinking is then taken back to my real-world environment and integrated into the conversation, thus providing my local learning community with new material.

This provides a pathway to ownership for hesitant digital immigrants.

More later.

Blogged with Flock

Who needs data?

2007-07-11T13:26:00.001-04:00

Next week, I'll be flying to Denver to present Phoenix's story along with our new principal and the director and supervisor of Professional Development for the district. We 4 will be telling our story at the National Staff Development Council's annual conference.
In looking at the session descriptions when registering a few months ago, I was struck by the lack of variety. With perhaps 4 (and that could be pushing it) exceptions, every breakout and keynote session is centered around data and the amazing things different districts, schools, departments and teachers have done with it. Data, I've realized, is the Silly Putty or Little Black Dress of education.
Our presentation will not be about data. It will include data. To be sure, data has its place in the structure of success at Phoenix. We use it to inform our instruction. We use it calculate projected success on the FCAT. We use it to understand "academic needs."
Data will not drive our presentation. It does not drive our school. I should clarify my use of the term "data" here is meant in its clinical sense.
What drives our school and will, in turn, drive our presentation are relationships.
Formative and summative, high-stakes, formal and informal - assessments in the hands of teachers will not decide the success or failure of that teacher's students in the academic year.
Relationships are key.
As such, our presentation will reflect this.
Here's the funny thing. As I write this, there's a tinge of wonkiness at the thought of the heresy of downplaying the importance of data. My first experience with PD as a professional teacher were on things like data walls and the drafting of common assessment meant to synthesize the state assessment. My indoctrination started early.
Let me put the argument to you another way: Do you want teachers who know data or teachers who know kids?
"This is Mr. Chase, he can compile interpret a great Data Wall." vs. "This is Mr. Chase, he finds ways to reach and motivate some otherwise lost students."
I know my argument has holes. Poke at them. Push this. Push me to think. Anyone?
More later.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixieclipx/414065100/

Facebook/Myspace = Haves/Have Nots?

2007-07-07T18:48:00.001-04:00

In running a technorati search for one thing, I stumbled upon something else. This Live Journal post points to an Information Week article that reports on an informal ethnographic study's findings that "MySpace and Facebook have come to reflect class divisions in American society..."

According to the study by Berkeley Information Sciences Ph.D. student Danah Boyd, Facebook is home to kids whose paths point them to toward completion of a college eduation while Myspace is the refuge of those whose paths are much less conventional.

According to Boyd's study:

The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.

MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.

While these informal findings are of interest, more compelling are the author's own thoughts:

I have been reticent about writing about this dynamic even though I've been tracking it for a good six months now. I don't have the language for what I'm seeing and I'm concerned about how it's going to be interpreted. I can just see the logic: if society's "good" kids are going to Facebook and the "bad" kids are going to MySpace, clearly MySpace is the devil, right? ::shudder:: It's so not that easy. Given a lack of language for talking about this, my choice of "hegemonic" and "subaltern" was intended to at least insinuate a different way of looking at this split.

I need to read Boyd's findings again to try to place her findings in proper perspective as they relate to the larger picture for education.

The results got me thinking about Brian Grenier's survey results and the discussions of diversity they led to. Much of what charms me about the playing field offered by the digital world is its potential to offer a level environment for all participants. Is that flattened field still possible?

More later.

technorati tags:myspace, grenier, facebook, danah, boyd, diversity, web2.0

Wiki for Thought

2007-07-07T17:13:00.000-04:00

I put it down about a month ago and hadn't had a chance to pick it up until this weekend. That said, I just finished Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. A chunk of the information was not new and had been encountered in Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture and other readings, but there is something to be said for ingesting these ideas on the heels of finishing Pink's A Whole New Mind.
As per usual, I read pen-in-hand marking the margins as I went. Though the book touches only briefly on education (and even then only to speak of university research), it's implications for education are far-reaching.
More importantly, it's expectations and assumptions of education are universal and flawed. Tapscott and Williams make statements about the Net Generation that leave out variables like access and experience, claiming Net Genners are entering the workforce with expectations based upon their time using and exploring the tools and tactics allowed to learners through web 2.0 access. Unfortunately this is not the reality for many.
At the risk of sounding as though he's the only blogger I read, I point to David Warlick's comment that "[c]hildren without personal and unfiltered access to contemporary technology are alone — and there is no power in that."
While the truth of this statement is a sad one, that sadness is only compounded farther down the road for those children.
They will not have the tools to connect to the world Tapscott and Williams describe without serious effort and a presumably monumental learning curve.
In describing the "perfect storm" leading to a collaborave world, the authors count "a generation that grew up collaborating" as one of the contributing factors. What of the members of that generation who did not grow up collaborating or who were part of an educational system that was not yet plugged in to the flattening world?
I realize I'm making the case for the need for expanded collaborative efforts. Before that case can be made in full, educators must be mindful of those students standing at the edge of the digital divide.
More later.

A Whole New...Everything

2007-07-07T01:47:00.001-04:00

I've just finished reading Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind. My read before that was Chap Clark's Hurt. Add to that the 200+ posts I've read from edubloggers across the world and my head is full of new thoughts and new versions of old thoughts.

In his Afterward, Pink writes:

Individuals and organizations that focus their efforts on doing what foreign knowledge worders can't do cheaper and computers can't do faster, as well as on meeting the aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual demands of a prosperous time, will thrive.

Scott McLeod issued a recent challenge to educational technology advocates to "...articulate in a few short sentences or paragraphs what the end result looks like." As educators, advocates of embedded technology or not, our responsibility is to create an end result that applies Pink's guidelines for success to education.

According to Clark, the largest problem facing adolescents today is a "systematic abandonment." The answer to what we must do, to the end result, is a reversal of that abandonment. Technology is a piece, but countless posts from minds I've come to respect show that the places where technology has had the greatest effects have been where it connects students to other students, to other teachers, to other learners.

The end result is greater personal connection. Access to information is important, yes. Access to others is key.

The end result is a classroom in which students' personal needs are first recognized and valued by a teacher who takes the time to learn who each student is as an individual and then uses the limitless reach of tools, 1.0 and 2.0, to create a learning experience that encourages shared ownership and elevated expectations.

I read with great interest the dispatches recounting the learning going on in Darren Kuropatwa's classroom. Technology has had an amazing impact on Darren's students.

I argue, though, that it is his level of respect and caring for his students' opinions and needs that has garnered ~~him~~ them such results. His willingness to allow his students access to a global stage and show them his faith in their ability to guide and sculpt their own learning have filled a gap left by, if Clark's claim holds true, societal abandonment.

Will Richardson's recent posts about spending time with his kids, Miguel Guhlin's posts about his time in Panama, David Warlick's twit about shopping for a bird bath, Paul Wilkinson's admittance that web browsing and video watching are helping him procrastinate - these are not high-minded intellectual posts. These are asyncronous social connections allowing others (many anonymous) a feeling of connection.

McLeod's post points to one by Warlick where Warlick states: "I think that the real story is that our schools are not connecting to (relevant to) their own goals, preparing children for their future." I offer a slight but imperative amendment: The real story is that our schools are not connecting to their students and their goal of preparing them for their futures.

More later.

technorati tags:warlick, richardson, guhlin, web2.0, kuropotwa, teaching, education, pink, mcleod

L.A. Again

2007-06-15T02:44:00.000-04:00

For the first time ever, I was on a plane that arrived early to its destination. I'm still a little shocked. Not only that, in my first 20 minutes in L.A., I witnessed three separate incidents of strangers performing acts of kindness for each other. I'm in a good place.

I read the entire flight. My mind's wrapped up in Chap Clark's Hurt.

Clark does a fantastic job of reporting the findings of his study of the history and world of emerging midadolescents.

The most impress part for me so far is Clark's willingness to approach all subject areas (schoool, family, sex, etc.) from teens' perspective rather than that of an academic, parent, youth minister, or any of his other roles in life.

Clark has an impressive resume':

Clark is associate professor of youth, family and culture and director of youth
ministry programs at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. As well
as being a two-degree seminary graduate, Chap holds a Ph.D. from Denver
University in Human Communication specializing in relationships, teams, and
organizational and family systems. His responsibilities at Fuller
include chair of Practical Theology Division (School of Theology), Director of
the Doctor of Ministry in Youth, Family and Culture, and Director of the
Institute of Youth Ministry. Dr. Clark also oversees the Ph.D. youth and
family ministry track.

To keep his research open to readers with world views other than his own, Clark includes an appendix in which he examines the implications of his findings for Christian youth ministry.

What never gets left behind is Clark's obvious love and concern for today's youth.

More later.

Success (x2?)

2007-06-13T09:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's presentation at the district's differentiated instruction conference felt as though it went very well.

I knkow from experience in the audience that teachers are a tough audience. For that reason, I've tried to pack my presentation full of as much relevant information as possible. From Clark (Ron and Chap) to Warlick, it's all in there.

I've divided the presentation into three parts - Social, Academic and Professional Development. You can view it below as well as look a the notes and accompanying files at the session's wiki.

Two pieces of this experience have been extremely worthwhile.

First, the reflection I've had to go through to put what I do in my classroom into perspective. I know I do all of the things I do for a reason, but presenting those practices to a larger, critical (in a good way) group of professionals requires me to finally do explicitly what I've been doing implicitly - connect the research with the practice. The rationale for me is inherent in the practice. To show others and pull back what is to me a fairly uninteresting curtain requires that rationale to be systematically connected. I've got to admit, the temptation was certainly present to say, "I just do this because I know it's what's best for kids!" I tried to stay away from that one.

The second benefit of the presentation thus far is finally getting an initiated audience involved in the conversation. Part of the frustration of participating in teaching 2.0 is the passive nature of our discourse. The people who read this blog are, I would imagine, largely people who have their own blogs. If we want to influence true, system-wide evolution, we (read I) must be better advocates for that evolution outside of our comfort zones. Scientists don't just publish their findings in an e-mail to the scientists who work in the lab next to them.

I know there is an interest in moving our practice and pedagogy forward in a meaningful manner, I hope I'm doing my part.

More later.

Stressed? Maybe a little

2007-06-09T15:07:00.000-04:00

Since school let out, I've been uber-busy. I know, I know, the busy-ness is supposed to slow down when the year's over, but it hasn't. I'm a different sort of busy now.
I've three presentations to prepare for this summer.
First up is next week's district conference on Differentiated Instruction. My presentation is on building community and an environment for risk-taking in the classroom. I've been whittling away at an outline over at my wiki, but hadn't realized the true work ahead until I sat down to put the actual presentation together. I'm facilitating the session once each day of the conference and a little tense.
I don't want to be that guy at the conference who gets people to say, "Oh, don't worry about that one, I went yesterday and it't not worth your time."
The main source of stress is finding a way to put everything together in a way that's accessible and succinct. I called Ms. Dunda after one long go at putting the presentation together and voiced my frustration at wanting to show how all of the pieces fit together but also feeling like I have to introduce all of the pieces.
I also want to truly facilitate and not merely present. I value the experiences of each teacher who's going to walk through that door and want those experiences to be shared and incorporated.
I've set the bar mighty high for myself. I've got a few days to prepare to reach it.
As for the other two conferences, they can wait until this one's done.
More later.

Photo from www.psychologycoach.com/stressanxiety/4515800867

Finals

2007-05-22T11:21:00.001-04:00

I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject later, but I've got to get this out there.

My students are in the middle of their final exams. Mine is an essay exam. The prompt this go 'round asks the students to write about one important lesson they have learned this school year and explain its importance.

We're about 25 minutes in and every student is brainstorming, planning, revising.

Now, bear in mind that these students came to Phoenix and 25 minutes in to our first writing assignment had been "done" for about 10 minutes.

Students are looking up words in dictionaries, crossing things out, balling up paper and throwing it away when the words don't come out just right.

Conscious or not, these students have become writers. They have started to care enough about their work to want to get it right. That comes only with a sense of self-worth.

At the beginning of the year, they didn't write because they didn't care, didn't think they could, any "didn't" you can think of.

I am tremendously proud of the writers they have become.

More later.

technorati tags:writing, exams, english, sarasota, phoenixacad, teaching

IWBs as a Panacea?

2007-05-20T22:15:00.000-04:00

In the rush to prepare students for finals and make sure everything is in order for end-of-year celebrations, I've been inattentive to the blog. The number of posts waiting in Google Reader from Miguel Guhlin is mind-boggling.

Still, a story appeared in our local paper a bit ago and it worried me a bit. You can read the whole story here.

Two aspects of the story me worry me.

Sarasota County has spent an estimated $12 million on purchasing an interactive white board for every classroom in the county. The intent was to roll out the first wave of installs to those teachers who most wanted the boards so that they could then assist those teachers who were more resistant to the new tool. This was mostly how it worked out. To be sure, there are some boards out there in the classrooms of teachers still hesitant to post their attendance online let alone give up their overhead projectors.

The fact that the newspaper took notice of what's going on in the classrooms excited me.
What worried me, made me cringe really, was this:

What is not clear is whether the Activboard will be a panacea for public schools, boosting the graduation rate or closing the achievement gap.

Let me solve the puzzle. Under no circumstances will the mere presence of ActivBoards act as a "panacea" for lagging test scores or troubling graduation rates. That is similar to implying that students' ability to read will improve simply because there are new books in the classroom. As with any other tool, the ActivBoards' potential will only be reached when teachers explore their own potential to utilize the boards as educational tools. Implying otherwise is frighteningly wreckless.

More frustrating still was our union exec's quote a few paragraphs later "...the fact of the matter is, technology so far has not been shown to have a tremendous impact."

I'm fairly certain we can't blame the technology.

Doug Gilliland, a tremendously inspiring high school science teacher and a colleague of mine, is quoted later in the article saying, "How well will they use it? I don't know. I think it will be like other teaching tools. Some teachers will grab on and run with it, and others will do the bare minimum."

This too worries me. It worries me because we are part of a system where Mr. Gilliland's prediction can come true.

The answer is an uncomfortable one for those in education who see the roles of teacher and student as mutually exclusive - we must raise the expectations for teachers.

Expectations for teacher, not just student, achievement must be higher than ever before if we are to serve our communities well.

I do not mean this in the context of standardized testing or any of its ugly stepsisters. I mean this in the context of personally guided exploration. Or, as Will Richardson put it a while ago, "It's the Empowerment, Stupid!"

Teachers must take the reigns and begin to direct their own learning. While it would be easy to let an IWB sit in a classroom unused and complain about a lack of training, it is also lazy.

How do you motivate teachers to own their learning? Anyone?

More later.

Frustrations

2007-05-14T23:02:00.001-04:00

Videos like this and the power it could have are why we shouldn't be blocking YouTube.

technorati tags:youtube, education, phoenixacad, fliters, blocking

Lowering the bar?

2007-05-14T17:18:00.001-04:00

Last Friday, our 8th-grade students to their penultimate field trip to the Florida Holocaust Museum in Clearwater.

It was a great trip with much learning on the part of students and teachers alike. Not everyone experienced the same levels of engagement. They are, I must remember, 8th graders.

One student in my group said she wished we had been able to roam and read rather than listen to our docent (I must admit that I took some teacher liberty and lagged behind to read placards we had missed). I noted that this student had perhaps decided early to reject the idea that this woman had something to share and had tuned out early.

Then, and this is the point, she turned to me and said very earnestly, "I know what she said, Mr. Chase. If you give me a quiz, I could get a 70."

A 70?

Now, when I was in school a 70 was cause for concern - mostly concern over my parents' reaction. And yet, this student saw what we will call "minimum proficiency" as the level at which she would prove she had learned all she could.

You see where I'm going with this?

Her remark took me out of the moment for a bit.

In Florida a level 3 out of a possible 5 is considered proficient on the math, reading and science portions of our standardized tests, the FCAT. Parents, students, teachers are all working very hard to have as many students as possible at that level 3.

Friday was the first evidence that "minimum proficiency" wasn't just the standardized standard.

Do we worry now?

More later.

technorati tags:FCAT, standards, standardizedtesting, testing, education, teaching

I can't stop now, they're learning!

2007-05-09T18:07:00.001-04:00

Big day here on campus.

I was happily displace 2nd period so that my room could be used for ESOL testing. This meant I taught that class in Mr. Timmons' room. After some initial lag time in getting adjusted to another room, we were up and running.

To add the pressure, Phoenix welcomed the President of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee was on campus observing classrooms. Then, we welcomed Bob Hansen the director of technology for Sarasota County Government and Sarasota County Schools. Big day.

The thing was, it wasn't a big day because of the visitors. I'm coming to get used to them.

The big day was the "clicking" that was going on in my classroom. Bellwork today was a quiz reviewing the verbs we learned about in class yesterday. It was self-grading and on ANGEL so my students got immediate feedback on their practice. From there, I showed the movie below to introduce irregular verbs, not the most engaging topic, but there was silence as the video played. I've also posted the video to Myspace, Revver, and Google Video. Let's not forget ANGEL. They can download it and do whatever they want. I'm really working toward the award for nerdiest teacher.

Now, usually I'll end the year with poetry and a poetry slam. This year, for whatever reason, I decided grammar would bring the most soul and life to the classroom. Here's the thing, it has. My students are asking questions, trying harder and pouring themselves into learning more than I've ever experienced with 9 days of instruction remaining. Crazy.

One other development. I've argued for a long time that we (educators) could be using Myspace to our advantage. Only recently have I started following through on my claim. I set up a Myspace page accessible to my students a while back and left it dormant. I was tired of students asking if I had a page.

The last couple days, I've started posting bulletins on the page. Nothing jazzy, just homework reminders and links to class notes and presentations. Last night, after finishing today's video, I added the video to my page. I know it's silly and most students won't view it, but I'm trying it out.

Here in Sarasota, a popular weekend hangout for my students is outside the multiplex on Main St. I can only imagine the fear they strike in our elderly population with the sheer force of their magnitudes. I've wondered for a few years now what would happen if I infiltrated their mob, if I began ad hoc tutoring on Friday and Saturday nights. Myspace is similar to that. I wonder if they'll appreciate the transparency.

On last thing. My friend Sgt. Jenny Morgan is stationed in Iraq and I had my students record their questions about the war and life in Iraq as podcasts for her. A few days ago, she replied to the first of their questions. It's an interesting read and a much different perspective than my students get at home or on the news. Check it out.

technorati tags:revver, myspace, phoenixacad, learning, teaching, verbs, google, ANGEL, education2.0

Blissful Nerdiness

2007-05-07T23:10:00.001-04:00

Yes, we're 168 days into the school year. Yes, we have 11 class days remaining. Yes, the children remain shocked every day when they see I expect them to continue learning.

All those truisms aside, I'm nerdy excited about tomorrow's lesson. I completed my ActivBoard flipchart for tomorrow's class, and it's a good one. My students are working on understanding how verbs work to better grasp what they're looking for when they edit others' work and their own.

There's something to be said for building a common language.

We've attacked the ignorance from several fronts. Still, some vestiges remain. Never fear, United Streaming to the rescue. I found a not-altogether-campy video from US to use as an intro./review to the basics of verbs and stuck it in the presentation. Finding something useful about grammar on United Streaming felt like a bit of a coup. From there, some great interactive practice is built into the flipchart.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Upon completion of the flipchart, I exported it as a PDF. You may ask, "Why, good sir, would you do such a thing?"

First of all, what's with the "good sir"?

Second of all, I posted the PDF on my ANGEL page for those students who will be absent tomorrow or will need to review what we cover.

But wait, there's more. I also created an online formative assessment that is self-grading and includes a link to the day's PDF in the quiz's instructions.

Each of these pieces creates a foundation on which I can then build to create authentic assignments through which my students will be able to exhibit their new vocabulary as well as spread the learning. Watch out blog.

I've just got to remember all of this at the top of next year so it doesn't take me 168 days to get so close to synergy.

technorati tags:unitedstreaming, phoenixacad, english, teaching, ANGEL, PDF, school2.0

How Many Hours in the Day?

2007-05-06T20:10:00.001-04:00

In an earlier post, I wrote about a community forum our school board put together to address community questions and concerns surrounding NeXt Generation Learning, our district's strategic plan.

Though pleased to see the district making a serious effort to engage the community in an open, transparent discussion about NGL, I also left the forum feeling frustrated. I wanted to write about the frustration earlier, but it's not my style to complain without offering a solution. There's enough of that in the world already.

After stewing on the subject for a bit, I think I've found the true cause of my frustration - time. There's simply not enough of it.

As I was sitting through the presentations offered for community members, I found myself thinking, "Yes, show them ActivBoards, but don't forget to mention Kagan and McREL's High-Impact Strategies. We mustn't leave out Web 2.0 and our focus on fostering meaningful relationships between learners and educators as well as learners and learning. Show them the data on the importance of engagement in the classroom and the work that's being done to bring gaming and play into formal education."

It wasn't that the information being shared was unimportant, it was that all the information that didn't get shared was so important too.

Each of these new tools and tactics works in concert with the others in creating a concert of learning. Cooperative learning without technology will work. Podcasting without cooperative learning will work. Cooperative learning and podcasting will each work without non-linguistic representations. But, all these used together will create an exponentially more powerful learning experience. It's difficult to make that argument in one evening. Thank goodness we're trying.

Will Richardson recently blogged about some frustrations in the discussion of technological integration and digital literacy:

Recently, in the middle of a presentation to about 500 teachers, one woman raised her hand and said something along the lines of “Look, I’m not the most technologically savvy, but I have to tell you that in a lot of ways I think all this technology is the devil. I mean my kids plagiarize stuff left and right, they don’t learn how to spell because of spell check, and I just think we’d be better off without it.” And a number of people applauded.

And also recently, after finishing with another group of school leaders who I had been working with over the last eight months, I was surprised to learn that many of them had begun deleting their blog posts and blogs citing fears that they would somehow come back to haunt them. And so much of our conversations focused on all of the reasons why we can’t make change in our schools. The “yeah, buts” once again.

I can see both sides of the conversation, though I stand with Will in the end. Technology is not the answer in the same way that a Vitamin C tablet will not equip you with the vitamins and minerals you need to make it through the day. I need a multi-vitamin, and it better include Vitamin C. The thing is, we must also take into account those among us who don't trust vitamins and are sticking with a daily dose of cod liver oil.

An argument could be made that I'm expecting things to happen too quickly - that this is education and progress, no matter how slow, is an improvement. See that's the thing. It is an improvement, I'm with you. But this is not big business where a failure to respond to the market will lower our quarterly earnings by a few percentage points. This is biggest business and the capital on our ledgers is students; quantifying our losses means much more than upsetting our investors with weaker earnings projections.

technorati tags:education, phoenixacad, NGL, web2.0, school2.0, willrich

Bottom of the 4th or Top of the 1st?

2007-05-05T01:19:00.001-04:00

At dinner tonight with Jason, Jessica and friends, I said something that's been knocking around my brain for a while - I don't feel like I'm at the end of my school year. I'm not ready to let these kids go.

Yes, I still have my down days. Yes, there are still those class periods that finish with my head spinning and me sure I completely missed the mark. But, those days are few and far between.

This year, for the first time, I'm not rounding out my 4th quarter on my last fits and spurts of energy. I'm finishing as though we're just getting started. Jason said he was feeling the same and we stared at each other for a second unclear of what to make of this feeling.

I'm still not certain of what to think. All I know is that 12 school days from now, I'm going to have the bittersweet feeling of seeing my kids move on to something new and leave our time behind.

More later.

technorati tags:education, teaching, Phoenixacad

NeXt Generation on Parade

2007-05-03T21:18:00.001-04:00

For those not based in Sarasota, I should explain before I expound. Two years ago this April, our superintendent unveiled his strategic plan for closing the achievement gap and giving our learners the skills and tools they will need to thrive and shape the world they will inherit. He called the plan NeXt Generation Learning.

The capital "X" is part marketing/part symbolism acknowledging different learners take different paths. Good message, no?

In fact, the entire plan is a worthwhile. It is a vision for the future of education in Sarasota that challenges teachers, administrators and community members to analyze the usual way of doing business (something we don't often consider).

Unfortunately, it is a difficult thing to make a vision reality - especially when there are thousands of stakeholders and especially when dealing with a culture in need of transparent communication structures.

Tuesday morning, I received a call from the head of Instructional Technology for the district asking me to participate in the second of three community forums being held across the district to begin building the lines of communication between parents and community members and the school district.

The first forum had not gone well at all, I have heard from many people and the district was wanting to refine the second based on lessons learned. As one of a small group of pilot teachers trained in what the district is calling NeXt Generation Teaching, I was asked to come and model the use of ActiVotes in my classroom. I was told I had 5 minutes.

The forum was opened with our current school board president announcing the event as evidence of the Board's renewed committment to working with the Superintendent and his staff in making NGL a success.

He was followed by a 10-minute presentation by our Associate Superintendent for NGL in which much of the presentation below was used. Imagine viewing slides 4, 5, and 6 from the back of a crowded cafeteria - imagine.

Next our Instructional Technology chief was up for 10 minutes explaining what a digital learner is and wants.

Then, we watched a video of two colleagues using ActivBoards in their classrooms. This was followed by one of those colleagues demonstrating the ActivBoard for 5 minutes and my 5-minute ActiVote demo.

From there, a supremely brief Q&A and those in attendance forming breakout groups to discuss the evening's critical questions. I've quite a few thoughts floating in my head from the evening, but I think I need to let them settle a bit before blogging. Next post, perhaps.

What are you thoughts on the slideshow? If you were at the forum, what were your thoughts?

More later.

technorati tags:NGL, Sarasota, Phoenixacad, school2.0, nextgen, education, learning, schoolreform

The Results Are In

2007-04-26T20:51:00.001-04:00

It will come as no surprise that I'm not the world's biggest NCLB supporter. I'm as big a fan of unfunded mandates as the next guy. For some reason, though, this one just doesn't engender my full-throated support. It does seem to engender my use of sarcasm. (Six of one half-dozen of the other?)

Like it or not, standardized, high-stakes, one-shot, the pressure's on, don't screw this one up, for all the marbles testing is thriving in Florida. We're thinking of ditching "The Sunshine State" and adopting "#2 Pencil Only State" as our motto. And so, when Phoenix Academy's writing results came in yesterday, I held my breath.

Principal Cantees rounded up my team leader and I and announced the news. I say this in all sincerity, I jumped up and down like a little, tiny girl and screamed like one too. Let me explain...

The test is 45 minutes and students are given one of two possible prompts - expository or persuasive. They are to plan, write and revise during that time. Accomodations are made according to IEP and 504 documentation. The test is scored by two people and assessed on a scale of U (unscorable) to 6.0. Each scorer assigns a value to the essay and the two scores are compared. If Scorer A gave an essay a 3 and Scorer B did as well, then the essay rates a 3. If there is a difference of one point (Scorer A rates an essay 3 and B rates it a 4) then the essay earns a score of 3.5. If the difference is any larger than one point, a third scorer is called in and the whole thing begins anew.

Right, so "proficient" essays are those scoring a 3.5 or higher. Anything better than a 3.5 is good. The difficult piece here is students are only tested on their writing in grades 4, 8 and 10. I'm finding my students have had little to no writing instruction since 4th grade. I think that's as good an explanation as I can muster.

Here's the breakdown:

04-05:
49% proficient

05-06:
Mean score: 3.7
3.5 or higher: 71%
4.0 or higher: 45%
5.0: 4 students

06-07:
Mean score: 4.0
3.5 or higher: 82%
4.0 or higher: 75%
5.0: 7 students
5.5: 2 students

Today was a day I enjoy. I got to call each of my students back to my desk one-by-one and hand them a Post-It note with his or her individual score on it. The thing is, I was proud of each and every student. Even my students earning a 2.5 or 3.0 made my heart swell. These were the students who would have earned a U at the beginning of the year. Though they may not be "proficient," they are growing, finding their voice and realizing the power of the written word.

The challenge now is not only to do the whole thing over with next year's 8th graders, but also to build a 9th and possibly 10th grade program that includes writing instruction as a key component. I say this not because of the lurking test, but because of the lurking future for which we are charged with preparing these students. If they cannot write, if they do not write, then we have failed them. We cannot afford to fail.

More later.

technorati tags:FCAT, florida, testing, writing, teaching, education, LA, phoenixacad

Moving Movies

2007-04-23T22:55:00.001-04:00

I'm not entirely sure how much of this I've written about and how much I've just thought about writing about. Thusly, here goes.

Sometime early last summer, I was hanging at my local haunt Metro Coffee & Wine. They were going to have an event to introduce a new menu section and wanted to incorporate a fundraiser. Ever on the lookout to hook people up with Phoenix, I began the sell. They bit and that was that.

Until.

One day, again at Metro, I was talking with my friend Debbie who works there and is also a filmmaker. I ws talking to Debbie about how grea it would be for my kids to be able to get involved in telling their stories and experiencing writing in an authentic way.

We were off to the races. Debbie spoke to some people she knew at the Sarasota Film Festival, we had a series of meetings and the pilot of the Young Screenwriters Program was built. For three months, six of my students met twice a week after school to create screenplays of their own. It was an amazing thing to watch more than any assignment I have ever given, these screenplays pulled in my students.

Last week, in conjunction with the festival, there was an event to honor my students. We included a staged reading of their screenplays as well as a Q&A portion. The place was packed. Each of the students came and all but one brought their families and extended families (that's pretty big for my kids).

The video below is a taste of what happened. The entire process was amazing. The story was picked up by this local paper, this local paper and this local paper. It was awesome.

The idea is that, somehow, we'll be able to actually raise money so that we can purchase some minor film equipment in order that our students can take their concepts all the way from the page to the screen.

Here's hoping.

More later.

technorati tags:SRQ, SFF, phoenixacad, education, screenwriting

Waiting for the Red Eye

2007-04-23T22:38:00.001-04:00

This won't get posted until I'm safe at home, but I'll look past that for the moment. I can't fathom why LAX doesn't have free wireless, but that's neither here nor there.

This was an amazing weekend. It had the possibility in the beginning, but it's still nice to see plan come together.

Aboce all was the blending of the two groups of pilot Freedom Teachers. We were two familes, now we're married. If anything, I know I didn't get enough time to meet with Mike from Philly or Robert from Atlanta or Gail from Cali.

The same feel of being recharged and repaired after spending quality time discussing what my life centers around has settled on me. Over and over this weekend we have spoken of the worth of finding and connecting with other teachers who "get it." I'm feeling as though that's going to need to be a post allon its own.

This weekend was about bonding, but was about building as well. Ours were valued voices in how to build the Freedom Teacher program and how to tweak what's already in existence. We've also been given the opportunity to help edit and contribute to the forthcoming teacher's guide to The Freedom Writers Diary.

It feels good to be a part of something.

And so I sit. Here. Purple yarn tied around my left hand as a reminder of ties strengthened and ties created. My mind is processsing and planning and exhausted.

I'll step off my plane tomorrow morning at 6 am, wait an excrutiating amount of time for my baggage and then drive the 70 miles home. I might get a short nap before heading to school to teach at 9 am.

Coffee? I think yes.

More later.

technorati tags:lax, FreedomWriters, redeye, phoenixacad, srq

Freedom Writers Weekend Take 2

2007-04-21T10:39:00.000-04:00

What a day.
I'm not entirely sure where to begin. I'm successfully in Long Beach, CA. I got in two nights ago and haven't stopped moving yet. Yesterday was spent mainly catching up with Freedom Writers Teachers I met when I was here in October. Each has such exciting stories to tell about his or her students.
I also spent a sizeable portion of yesterday in iMovie cutting and pasting a short video from last Monday night when my six students who participated in the Young Screenwriters Program through the Sarasota Film Festival were honored and got to watch a staged reading of their screenplays.
How fitting that last night's event here in Cali. was to go to Paramount Pictures for a private screening of Freedom Writers.
We also ate dinner in the studio cafeteria where the famous Taco Cart from the last Freedom Writers Weekend made a triumphant return.
What was best about the screening, though, was having a chance to watch the movie with an actual Freedom Writer on my left and one of the guidance counselors from Wilson High School who worked with the FW on my right. This was their truth, told on film and I got to share in experiencing it with them. Brilliant.
Today, we'll be on the Cal State, Long Beach campus workshopping how to teach the film with the book and getting our hands dirty helping to revise the teacher's guide due out this fall.
I cannot wait to collaborate with this dynamic group of teachers once again.
This trip is different because groups 1 and 2 of the pilot FWT are here.
Before meeting the members of Group 1, some of the other Group 2 members and I discussed our wonder at how the two would mesh. Ours was such a tight group that achieved cohesiveness so quickly, what if we didn't have the same chemistry with this other group?
I'm due to meet some of them in a few minutes for breakfast if that answers any questions.
I'll be sure to post again tonight with a more thoughtful reflection.
I'll also be starting a Flickr feed with the tag FWW0407 along with posting the screenwriters movie to Revver.

From TPA to LAX

2007-04-19T18:39:00.001-04:00

You can imagine my surprise at the coincidence that took place this morning when my Google Reader feed displayed the following from Frank Lloyd Wright as one of my quotes of the day:

Turn the world on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.

I'm sitting in the Tampa International Airport waiting to depart for Los Angeles. I take off at 6:55 and get in at 9:17. With the time difference, that's what, a 9-hour flight?

I'm off to Long Beach, CA again for a meet up with my fellow Freedom Writers Teachers. I know I went almost 26 years without meeting many of these people. Still, waiting from October until now to see everyone again seems like much too long. I can't wiat to hear what everyone has been doing with their students this year. The successes will be amazing, I'm sure.

What's interesting to contemplate is the difference in my mood this go 'round. My first trip was filled with excitement about meeting Erin and the Freedom Writers. While I'm still incredibly excited this time. I think that excitement is incredibly rivaled by the anticipation of seeing friends.

All right, the lady is starting the boarding process. I suppose I should post and get ready to take off.

I wonder what the movie will be.

More later.

technorati tags:gruwell, freedomwriters, phoenixacad, teaching, english, LongBeach

1 of 12

2007-04-16T09:37:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was an interesting one.
My little sister Rachel was in town for her spring break. Always trying to be the cool big brother, I was able to get tickets to the Opening Night Gala for the Sarasota Film Festival. As parties, nay, events go in Sarasota, this one's a biggie.
One might imagine that, for a young lady of 17, the food, the people, the music, the fancy clothes would all be the memorable parts of the evening. Not so.
In fact, they were not the memorable parts of the evening for me either.
One unassuming man in a full tuxedo made the night.
His name is Edgar Mitchell. Sadly, it was not a name I knew before Friday night.
He is one of 12 men in the history of our planet to walk on the surface of the moon. 1 of 12!
For those of you familiar with film or photos of an astronaut throwing a javelin on the surface of the moon, that was Mitchell.
Now, here's the thing, the thing that really stuck - he gets it.
Listening to Mitchell speak to some VIPs at the party, I heard him mention the need to improve education in America. The mention of such a topic by anyone will catch my ear, much to my friends' chagrin.
When the VIPs moved on, I leaned in to Mitchell and said, "Do you mind if I ask you a question that doesn't have to do with the moon?"
"Not at all," he replied.
"I heard you say you thought more needed to be done with education. Can you explain that a little?"
Well, we were off. He gets it. He really does. Not often do I meet anyone outside of education who truly understands the need to change the way we do business. Mitchell did. "What we're doing, the way we're teaching these kids, it's criminal. And you know I'm right."
He is right.
Our time together was Swiss cheesy due to Mitchell's frequent calls to be interviewed or meet VIPs, but here's the short list of where we need to be looking:

creativity
problem solving
throwing away the old model
science

I made sure to get his card and will certainly be following up on our discussion in hopes of having this actual American pioneer come and share his experiences and thoughts with our teachers and students.
Let's hope it doesn't take the same kind of perspective to which Mitchell was privy before other outsiders start to see what's important in education.

One bite at a time

2007-04-11T10:04:00.001-04:00

My weekly e-blast from the National Council of Teachers of English included this link to a story appearing in the Sacramento Bee detailing the use of technologies in high school English classrooms.

Dylon Holcomb, the teacher on whom the article centers is what Doug Reeves would call a "node" perhaps a "super node." He's a go-to guy in his district because it sounds as though he's learning these technologies as he goes and collecting the ones he needs most.

Again, this is an open source approach to education. Holcomb is using the tools he needs to augment learning in his classroom and make material more accessible.

...[U]sing the Internet in the classroom should be done in moderation and not replace traditional reading from books or writing short essays by hand, Holcomb said.

"It's a double-edged sword because I believe in the old-fashioned way, too," he said.

This is where Holcomb and I diverge slightly. While I'm nowhere near the point where I feel comfortable throwing out all printed literature, I do look forward to the day when all of my students' writing is electronic. The fact that my classroom and Holcomb's classroom are not in complete pedagogical syncopation does not mean that his or mine is any the lesser for it.

This is an initial frustration when introducing educators to new collaborative tools and Web 2.0. Many teachers, veteran or not, are apprehensive toward adopting an entire Web 2.0 cadre of tools. In talking with Mr. Francis and Ms. Holliman about adopting some new resources for their classroom, I was met with initial resistance. They thought they would have to eat the entire elephant in one bite.

That's not how you eat an elephant.

Once we moved past the idea that the way they use these new tools and tactics in their classrooms had to be the same as the way I use them in my classroom, comfort began to set in.

I return to my argument for open source education. The mindset cannot be one of adopting a tool and doing what someone else did with it only in a different way. To truly utilize these resources, teachers have to acknowledge what came before and then realize the ownership involved.

We're not talking about a 2.0 version of a textbook. We're talking about a blank book in which information, communication and collaboration can be adapted, adopted and adjusted as learning progresses.

If we're trying to push learning in a new direction and toward a new platform (and I truly feel that we are) we've got to leave old ways of thinking behind.

technorati tags:education2.0, Holcomb, blogging, google, web2.0, classroom2.0, school2.0, opensource

The Open Source Classroom

2007-04-09T20:06:00.001-04:00

School is full of frantic energy as of late. My brain's certainly moving in every direction at once.

To top that all off, I've been keeping up with my feeds fairly fiendishly. This does not do much to calm the multi-directional thinking. One post from Dean Shareski that stuck in my head was actually about another post on Will Richardson's blog.

Dean picked up on a phrase I've noticed Will using a few times since I began reading his blog "pushed me to think." It's a phrase, ironically, I hadn't consciously used before picking it up from Will. The past two years, though, I've caught myself using the phrase in discussions with colleagues, when encouraging my students to find a new way around a problem and even when talking to my dad about the craziness intertwined in parenting my little brother.

Now, I've been pushing and pushed to think for as long as I can remember, but I cannot think of a time when I was as aware of my thinking, as reflective on my thinking as I am when interacting with texts and video and resources afforded me through web 2.0.

I say this all because I'll be starting my Master's work this June. It's my first real formal return to studenthood since graduating.

This year, I've been learning in the manner I want my students to learn - I've been exploring, problem solving, information sharing, researching, and discussing. The worry is that entering an atmosphere where my learning is directed by a teacher, where I am not directing my field of inquiry will prove a frustrating task.

I did well in my first 18-year run at studenthood. A game existed in the traditional classroom which I was well-suited to play. I cannot say I learned as much as I should have, but I can definitely attest to succeeding in school. Success and learning were not necessarily closely linked. Success and completion, certainly.

My performance was aligned with expectations and that led to increased opportunities. I was rarely truly engaged, my studies rarely as rigorous as I could handle.

Since then, this past year especially, I've been directing my learning in the ~~direction~~ directions most interesting and important to me. I've been creating my own classroom 2.0. I worry that I won't be able to revert to the earlier version. Imagine running Windows 3.1 after you've been working on XP.

Maybe, though, my resistence isn't toward moving backwards, but to moving to any set structure. The learning I practice online, in Web 2.0 isn't really XP, it's open source. Through blogging and podcasting and the like the thoughts of people like David Warlick, Karl Fisch, and Paul Wikinson are open to me. I can pull from them the pieces that most motivate and intrigue me and then add my own pieces while crediting their sources.

I find the patches I need to bring continuity to my thinking and help my pedagogy run more smoothly.

This is the resistance I've felt to what is symbolized by the monikers of Web 2.0, School 2.0 and Classroom 2.0. My learning - the learning I want to engender in my students - is learning that is meshed together from what they need and seek and offer up.

The classroom in which I want to learn and teach is one undergoing constant upgrades and bound by no particular version. No proprietary rights exist to its content, but all educators are fairly acknowledged and credited for their contributions.

technorati tags:web2.0, opensource, warlick, classroom2.0, education, teaching

Charlotte (redux)

2007-04-01T21:13:00.001-04:00

So, this trip has been a smathering of firsts where travel is concerned. For the first time, my luggage was lost and for the first time, I missed my flight.

It was an honest mistake, really. All week, I've been thinking that my first flight out of Springfield left around "noonish" (it's a time). Turns out, that flight left around 8:19. I woke up and checked my itinerary around 7:50. My entire day's been a game of catch up.

Luckily, I'm well into Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams. The book appeals to me because it picks up where Convergence Culture left off, delving more deeply into the what Youtube and Myspace and Flickr and RSS and Wikipedia and and and...all mean.

I read the first chapter with this post from David Warlick in mind. I commented on the post and am coming to realize I've got more to say. I have to collect my thoughts first. I've had a nasty headache since Chicago, so thinking's not going so well.

You'd think that would stop me from reading. Turns out it's the falling asleep that stops me.

More later.

technorati tags:wikinomics, warlick, phoenixacad

Boggled

2007-03-30T21:16:00.001-04:00

There's no television here at the homestead. Now, I'm fine with that. Still, to get a quick fix, I started watching clips of The Daily Show. Now, don't get me wrong, I watch other shows and get my news from other sources. Still, I like to laugh. The movie above ties nicely to Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone which I finished last night.

I found the book compelling and difficult to tear myself away from when other tasks required my attention. I think more to its credit was the fact that I also had to make a conscious decision to pick the book back up again after I'd been away from it for any time. Once, as I was sitting down to begin a new chapter, I actually said aloud to myself, "All right, I'm going to enter this world again."

It speaks to Beah's translation of the pain and inhuman acts he and other boy soldiers in Sierra Leon suffered during that country's civil war. To pick up the book was to admit you were entering a world no one in reality would choose.

Interestingly, Michael Vasquez and Elizabeth Rubin have been writing back and forth on the book over at Slate. Their conversation has planted some interesting thoughts. I'm not sure what they'll grow to become. Still, they germinate. I'm not sure where all of this is going except to say that I feel the need to do more, to educate more, to do more.

Karl Fisch posted today about the birth of a plan to move his Did You Know? presentation from viral pacivity to something that got the ball rolling toward moving the conversation of School 2.0 from minority to majority and perhaps to something beyond simply a conversation about pockets of success.

I'm all for it. Beyond that, though, is Karl's post about how to effectively roll out the soon-to-be polished version of the presentation. It's a planned convergence - consumers using producer tactics (let's all acknowledge my active processing of Henry Jenkins and move on).

My thinking then becomes intertwined. While I agree the conversation about how learning and educating should be changing, more ~~important~~ global applications of these tactics are waiting in the wings. Imagine a similar approach to the one Karl suggests - only it's applied to poverty or Darfur or hunger or joblessness.

How do you motivate? A stake, right? The thing is, there is everyday folk do have a stake in solving these problems, but they don't have an urgency behind them. Imagine the Gates Foundation opening a challenge to the globe where they placed all of the important data and resources about a given global or national crisis on a page or wiki or whatever and then facilitated an open forum engaging experts and invested amatuers in solving the problem.

Think of the educational implications of such a challenge. A civics class selects a chunk of data and works collaboratively to analyze and contribute to the cause, an English class utilizes the information to write to governments and other non-civilian change catalysts urging their investigation or - better yet - asking what they can do to help.

Am I thinking too big? Have I said too much? I should pull back? Someone tell me they can see the vision.

More later.

technorati tags:DailyShow, SocialAction, SierraLeon, KarlFisch, Slate, convergence, School2.0, Gates, phoenixacad

A Week to Learn

2007-03-29T18:03:00.001-04:00

I finished Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture while up in Chicago, and my brain is still cataloging the information. As usual, I read the book with pen in hand. The margins are full of notes and brackets. Lines and passages are underlined. Good stuff.

The biggest praise I have for the book is the fact I've had the chance to reference it in conversation at least 5 times since Gmail - Inboxfinishing it two days ago. It's not that all of Jenkins' ideas are necesarily unique. I found myself dazing through a few passages containing thoughts and notions with which I am already familiar or putting into practice. No, what struck me about the book was the way it, itself, acted a conduit for convergence of the ideas and examples Jenkins writes about.

In reading about the interweaving of storylines across media in the Matrix universe, I found myself hopping online mid-paragraph to download referenced movies and read more about storylines that had been missed. I couldn't even read the book in isolation. Were it an e-Book on a PDA or the like, I would have been set.

One downfall of the tome is it's lack of or passing attention paid to Myspace, Youtube and Wikipedia. This is not to mention RSS feeds and Skype. Were these tools not as priminant when Jenkins was writing in '05-'06? The other possibility, of course, is that Jenkins chose not to include them for fear that they might overload what is a user-friendly introduction to the ideas of convergence and web 2.0.

Whatever the reason, Convergence Culture is a worthwhile read I'm sure to be talking and posting about for quite some time. I should give a shout out of thanks to Will Richardson for mentioning this book over the summer at the Building Learning Communities '06 conference. It's been on my shelf since I got back to Sarasota from Boston (I think I ordered it on Amazon just after his break-out session), but I haven't had a chance to sit down and read until spring break.

I'm working on A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah now. Wow, compelling reading. Truly. I heard about the book when Beah was on The Daily Show. Unfortunately, Beah's account closely mirrors Dave Eggers' fictionalized refugee of one of the Lot Boys of Sudan in What is the What? I say unfortunately because it shows how such similar atrocities took place while the world stood watching. I'm not claiming to have any solution or to know what we could have done, but something. Something. All right.

More later.

technorati tags:sudan, convergence, henryjenkins, wikipedia, web2.0, sierraleon, Beah

The Benefits of Lost Luggage

2007-03-26T02:39:00.001-04:00

So, the guy who processed my claim of lost luggage after my 3-legged journey home last night told me Chicago (where I'd just been) was a mess after three days of poor visibility and subsequent delays.

Turns out that translates to mean, "Your bag's with thousands of others and we're not sure when we're going to get it all sorted out."

As I was heading to my mom's, I wasn't worried. I've remnants of clothes from as far back as high school stocked away in my closet. Nothing I ever planned to wear again, but no polyester leisure suits either.

The interesting part, the part that truly signals my nerd-dom is that I have been in my Christmas PJs the entire day. They were the first things I found when I opened the closet door and they suited me just fine. They also put me in the mindset to stay in bed and read all day - ALL DAY.

It's been wonderful. As predicted, I finished The New Brain on my second flight and am not mid-way through Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture. Interesting stuff, I'm bracketing, underlining and annotating my way through it. I'll have a more thoughtful post when I finish it tomorrow.

This is really not a thinking type post, but I didn't want to get out of the habit. Now the world knows my luggage's lost. Finally, empathy.

More later.

technorati tags:luggage, chicago, springbreak, Convergence

Thinking in Charlotte

2007-03-24T17:24:00.001-04:00

I've just touched down, completing leg 1 of 3 necessary to get me to my final spring break destination. The time on the plane from SRQ to Charlotte was spent re-immersing myself in The New Brain by Richard Restak. Nevermind the fact that I first started the book two years ago which likely means it's no longer the new brain. (Brain fashions are so hard to follow, and I've never been very trendy.

I picked up the book after attending a professional development seminar offered by the district. The focus was on occupational therapy and incorporating brain science into pedagogy and classroom environment. It was one of those awakenings in teaching where I was struck by how little of what we do as teachers has to do with what scientists tell us about how the brain works.

A piece of the book talks about ADD and ADHD. Restak contends that we should stop looking at ADD and ADHD as disorders and begin thinking about them as new adaptive ways of brain functioning. While I can get on board with the thinking, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with referring to AD and ADH.

Restak also talks about the fallacy of multi-tasking. I know this isn't new stuff at this point and that our brains are truly switching quickly between tasks. I get that. What Restak writes that interests me is the decline in efficiancy when the brain is asked to switch between these multiple tasks. We're doing more, but not necessarily doing better. I've about 60 pages to go. I'm hoping to be on my next book by the end of leg 2. This is what spring break is all about...for teachers.

More later.

technorati tags:srq, charlotte, phoenixacad, restak, ADD, ADHD, springbreak

Spring Break

2007-03-23T22:14:00.000-04:00

The bell ringing at the end of the day today marked the beginning of our spring break. I've got travel plans as usual and will board a plane tomorrow afternoon to start a much-needed vacation.
Still, I'll miss my kids and my colleagues. I feel like I'm in a good place right now. As I last posted, that doesn't happen much this time of year. It's that golden quarter where you get to be a real teacher and not have to worry about whether or not what you're teaching is preparing your students for a standardized test.
In fact, the social action unit I started this past week is one I'm convinced is preparing my students for a more important test - when faced with a chance to act on a social issue about which they feel strongly, will they participate?
First period was interesting today.
A reporter came to speak with 6 of my kids who have been participating in a pilot young screenwriters program through the Sarasota Film Festival. Beginning in January, these students have shown up Tuesday and Thursdays after school and crafted their ideas in to real and true screenplays.
What's funny is the fact this group does not follow the traditional 20%/80% rule where 20% of your students account for 80% of your school organization membership. This is a cross of students with stories to tell.
Screenplays complete and the festival fast approaching, these students will soon be recognized for their work.
Today was a taste of that. They sat in my classroom and were asked questions about their creative process and whether or not they wanted to write another screenplay. The thing is - in the course of participating in this program - three of them have decided to write books. One of them has decided he would like to produce his screenplay as well as star in it.
It's a connection that could not have been made in a traditional test-prep classroom. No 5-paragraph essay would fit these students' visions. They worked without complaint, some taking their journals home to sculpt their ideas on their own time.
This is the spirit of learning I hope to foster and cultivate in all of my students in the Golden Quarter. I feel we're well on our way.
Any week where you get to begin to explain communism to 8th graders, examine the meaning, causes and effects of bigotry, and hear students point out the much stronger case for non-violent vs. violent social action, it's a good week to be a teacher.
More later.

Ironical

2007-03-18T19:32:00.001-04:00

Traditionally, I'll get to the start of the fourth quarter and begin counting the days until summer vacation. It's the nature of the beast. After preparing for and completing FCAT testing, we are truly on the downward slope of the year. The students sense it and largely shut down.

This year, something different is happening. I'm actually dreading the end of school.

Ms. Jacks and I just broke up a planning session in which we put together the first days of a unit on social action that will hopefully push our students to research, invest in, and push for change on a social issue of their choosing. Jacks teaches in across town in a traditional middle school. The collaboration resulted in the discovery of a United Streaming video that will work wonders for introducing the contemporary history of social change.

Better still is the utilization of a wiki to plan out the unit so that we have a living document built to utilize next year no matter where either of us is teaching. We found it helpful in giving us both a place where we can keep, manipulate and communicate information while maintaining transparency.

Also in the domain of things that make me proud and excited to be a part of Phoenix is the work our 9th-grade reading teachers are doing to incorporate reading instruction into their classrooms. I set them up with a wiki on the topic so that they would be using it from the get go. Their updates and additions are impressive. Again, it's not the technology as much as the collaboration, transparency and creativity the technology has inspired. I also get the sense that these teachers are excited about using these new tools/tactics to inform learning in their rooms. I can't help thinking how much I would have loved to be in every classroom of Phoenix when I was growing up.

One more subject area here and then I'll get back to reading. Mr. Timmons e-mailed me last night to let me know he had started his own blog. I cannot communicate how impressed I am. Timmons had been holding out because he "had nothing to say." His first post relays what changed his mind. At the beginning of the year, one member of the faculty at Phoenix had a blog. Now, we're at 6!

This is to say nothing of the growth we've been experiencing over on my class blog. It's admittedly babystepping, but we're moving. With several student posts and two podcasts, we've got a presence. The presence was made all the more exciting when my students started noticing comments from Paul Wilkinson of New Zealand. Suddenly, what they have to say can be heard. I know the excitement in that feeling.

More later.

technorati tags:phoenixacad, unitedstreaming, wikis, podcasts, blogging, education

The Big Push

2007-03-09T10:47:00.001-05:00

So, Jack's comments got me thinking (as the inevitably do):

You know what's weird? We (Zac, Jack, Edna, and soon many others at Phoenix)are communicating more/better through blogging than we have all year -- even though it takes about 20 seconds for me to go to your room. And now we have "others" that are part of Phoenix -- like Paul in New Zealand. Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth for this morning.

What is it about blogging that has brought together people who work less than a football field away? The initial answer is the shiny newness of it all. Who doesn't like newness?

Then I start to think about what it does for my students, it gives them a place to publish. Thank you to Will Richardson for putting that into context for me. Though it sounds silly, I think it's true. We're communicating better because the conversation has the potential to be a conversation amongst everyone in the world.

The drive to have the conversation comes from two things:

The hunger for conversation above the 8th-grade level.
The need to reach outside 100+ years of isolationist teaching.

Let me add one more...

3. It's fun to learn and feel yourselves grow.

I don't remember where I read it, though I'm sure I've got it bookmarked somewhere, but a novel idea I ran across somewhere was the idea of asking kids "How does your teacher learn best?" for a final exam. It's easy to forget that we do learn.

More later.

technorati tags:phoenixacad, web2.0, blogging, education

Exactly what I needed

2007-03-07T18:15:00.001-05:00

You should have seen her face. I kid you not, it was the kid-at-Christmas face. Five educators on staff at Phoenix now have their own blogs. Up from one (this one) last year, we're moving on up.

Today, after school, I went down to Mr. Francis' room to try out the birthday present that's been begging to be used since last week. It was to be a trial podcast recording where I interviewed Mr. Francis about his new world of technology.

What a beautiful surprise to walk through the door and catch him sitting aside Ms. Holliman leading her through the sign-up process for her own blog.

I sat down and watched and started recording (unfortunately the mic. was on mute, so the entire 19 minutes of brilliance were lost).

Then, she clicked "Publish Blog" and I wish I had my camera with me. Truly, it was an amazing face.

I've wanted this since last year's NGT training and Alan November's BLC06. The obvious possibilities for a school of our size and technological inventory to really empower our students with Web 2.0 are limitless. We just needed one person to get it started.

For the longest time, I thought it was Principal Cantees. I should have known better. Didn't Doug Reeves teach me anything? It's the job of a Jill (I think that's me. It could be Jack) to start the change in a school.

One thing that came up in our never-to-be-heard podcast was the initial fear of the technology when Ms. Dunda and I integrated a blog into some Back-to-School training we did at the start of the year. Ms. Holliman admitted it was technology and "that meant it was going to be difficult to use." This is from the same woman who told me today that she planned on posting once a day but probably more.

We then talked about the parallels for these educators in learning these new tools as our "striving learners" encounter new vocabulary or ways of thinking, they experience the same trepidation many educators feel when beginning to work with technology. Oddly, many educators turn away from the challenge with the excuse of "too much to do," but accept no excuses from their students.

Miguel Guhlin posted today on administrative challenges and hypocrisy. I'm pretty sure many educators' refusal to adapt to new technologies falls nicely into that category.

technorati tags:podcast, teaching, web2.0, guhlin, phoenix, blc06, blc07, ngt

The Forbidden Word

2007-03-06T11:30:00.001-05:00

My last post garnered a comment from Paul Wilkinson in New Zealand. That led to me poking around his blog and learning about the work he's doing in his classroom. Great stuff.

One of Paul's posts led me back to David Warlick and post Paul commented on.

I've been thinking lately about an idea that was touched on in my pre-service teacher training at University - authentic assessment. The idea was coming back into its own when I heard about it and is batted around edublogs quite often, but I want to incorporate it into my classroom as much as possible.

In it's more academic form, what Warlick describes as "Passion-Based Learning" is differentiated instruction. The difference would be that DI focuses on learning gaps and meeting learners' achievement needs while the new PBL would focus on engagement, getting students wanting to learn and share and create and all of those wonderful verbs that don't pop up enough in federal, state and county standards.

Looking at my students now, it's undeniably difficult to put together a lesson that will engage Demond who loves football, Coty who is a tagger (graffiti artist), Elsie who is a writer, Missy who is a gymnast, etc. By engage, I'm not talking, simply getting them to pay attention, but getting them to care, to see school as relevant not to the futures they haven't quite gotten into focus yet, but relevant to those activities they feel they're suffering through the school day to get to.

I need to focus on formulating learning plans that will offer this type of passion-based engagement and still allow for DI. Thoughts?

More later.

technorati tags:pbl, warlick, wilkinson, differentiated, nz, education, teaching

Spinning

2007-03-06T00:43:00.001-05:00

I made the mistake tonight of watching one of the Netflix movies that's been sitting on the coffee table for a number of weeks just waiting for me.

It was an episode of PBS' Frontline titled "Ghosts of Rwanda." I put it in my cue a while ago when I realized I knew very little about what had happened there in the mid-90s. Friends were telling me I should see the film Hotel Rwanda, but I wanted a more historical perspective first.

I want to yell at people. I want to yell at myself, go to work for the Red Cross, write letters to world leaders, go back to college and ger a higher degree so I can do something, write letters of apology to those Rwandans who lost their families, anything - anything.

My frustration is compounded by the fact I've been making my way through What is the What? in my free time. Dave Eggers' fictionalized biography of a Sudanese refugee is further opening my eyes to the atrocities still living in the world.

How easy it would be to simply not act. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Thank you, Edmund Burke.

And so, I turn to what I can do as an educator. What can I do as an educator? Nowhere in my standards does it say I'm to bring these issues to my students. They appear nowhere on standardized tests.

They never have. The Rwandan Genocide was taking place while I was in high school. Hundreds of thousands were being murdered while the world did nothing and not one of my teachers mentioned it in class. It wasn't on the radar.

The devil's advocate in my mind argues it would have made no difference, that I could have done nothing and likely would have done nothing. Perhaps not. But in the age of information, how is it that this information failed to affect impact me? I know I'm asking numerous rhetorical questions here. It's just the place my brain is in.

I find it odd that we speak so frequently about globalization, but mention it almost solely in reference to the developed world. I've heard and read numerous reasons why educators need to pony up because we're preparing our students to fight for jobs in a global workplace. I see this need an understand the factors at play.

That cannot be the only effect globalization has on education. It cannot simply be about preparing my students to exist in a marketplace. Enough about jobs in a global workplace, I need to prepare my students to fight for all lives in a global community.

More later.

technorati tags:rwanda, globalization, eggers, genocide, education, teaching, frontline, pbs

NGT Time

2007-03-04T13:22:00.001-05:00

One of the initiatives started by Superintendent Norris three years ago was the NeXt Generation Teaching program.

The idea is to identify those competencies, tools and tactics essential for effective teaching of and in the next generation.

The program was piloted with a small group of high school teachers just a bit over two years ago. Among other things those of us in the pilot attended three weeks of additional summer training and logged up to 90 hours of additional training and implimentation time throughout each of the last two school years.

The idea, sort of, was that this initial group would be "NeXt Generation Certified" by the end of the training. The difficulty was that the certification process had not really been dealt with. It was a bit of a "we'll get to that when it comes up."

Well, it's come up, and 40 teachers want to know the next steps.

While the program has had it's stumbles, no part of NGT training has failed to be thought-provoking and enriching. I'm a better teacher for taking part in the program and could walk away happy at this moment. That would, of course, go against the goal of having every teacher in the county working toward NGT certification - a certification that, heretofore, does not exist.

As is the way in education and old-school corporate America, a committee has been formed. Luckily, it's a committee of people who can work well together and can challenge resepectfully.

After our first meeting we'd actually made progress. It's sometimes a shocking thing to see beaurocracy moving forward.

The process isn't complete, but it's given me cause to create my first wiki. The committee members are all aware of the document and will hopefully tweak and tune it so that we can iron out details at our next meeting. Thus far, I'm the only one to have made any changes, but I'm hoping the others will hop online in the next few days.

More later.

technorati tags:NGT, teaching, education, professionaldevelopment, wiki, Nextgen

It's about ideas

2007-03-03T19:31:00.000-05:00

Boy, have I been reading lately. There's so much going on out there that I can't seem to focus any kind of critical thinking for too long. I suppose this is an attempt to get some focused thought out on what's been bumping around my brain for the past few weeks.

First, Miguel Guhlin posted an interesting thought on the job of education and the type of product we tend to manufacture. I use those words because it seems as though that is the way the thinking is turning. Many posts I've read as of late are concerned with the outputs of education - as we all should be.
Before getting to Guhlin, David Warlick commented briefly on NCLB, and had this to say:

...I believe that No Child Left Behind has done far more harm to education in the U.S. than good. It is an industrial age solution to an information age problem. But NCLB is correct in that schools, teachers, and students must be accountable to their communities.

Warlick's is a thought I'm running into more and more frequently. It fits nicely with Guhlin's post:

To teach real life problem-solving in schools would result in children becoming aware that their work in school lacks authenticity, only brainwashes them to trust authority without question, make them dependent on consolidated, controlled media sources that filter the news, even censor it if you believe some alternative sources to protect the ruling elite, and serve as the lower caste of people who must do the menial jobs. The creative class of people--those who populate our private and charter schools--also are indoctrinated in specific dogmas and ideologies, allowed freedom on a rope only after, like baby elephants whipped since childhood, restricted by a heavy chain, achieve freedom of movement, but not of mind.

Decidedly, Phoenix is part of the former system. This is not say I haven't any experience in the latter. Being able to recognize both models and identify their products leads to a better understanding of the problem. It is a problem.
The roots of many of my students' problems with education can be found not in inability to do work but in unwillingness to play the game.
I was luck when growing up to have teachers in a small rural school who could press against the rules in order to find ways to educate that met students' wants, needs and (I hesitate to suggest a link between education and this last one) passions. My English teachers knew what they were talking about and made their classes maleable for those of us who had an interest in words and their role in shaping society.
Equally available to me, but something I chose not to avail myself of was a top-notch agri-science program. I could be certain that the students in my English class who did not find the same artful beauty in the words we read would be enriched by...whatever it was that happened in the ag classes. Because each of us had a place where we could do the learning that interested us most, we were more willing to do the learning that interested us least.
Without any outlet, I would be extremely weary of letting anything in. My students have, by and large, lacked an outlet.
While my class may not be the outlet of choice, I'm working to do all I can to help them align themselves with whatever they need to unstop their creative impulses.
This isn't an argument of tools; it is an argument of ideas. I don't think a blog, wiki, podcast or laptop is required for a student to find the best opportunity for developing passion. It is about ideas. I remember when those were things we were encouraged to have and investigate.
More later.

Hungry for morsels

2007-03-03T19:29:00.000-05:00

After what I imagine to be one of the longest brainstorming session ever (he created the thing last Fall) Principal Cantees has made his first blog post. I even got a shout out. I've been on him for the last few weeks to post again and comment on the blogs of others. His worry is that he doesn't have anything to say, that he wants what he writes to be important.
Ironically, it's one of the problems I've seen over and over again with my beginning writers. They're so worried that their first drafts won't be Pulitzer-worthy that they never get anything on the page or screen.
Luckily, I think Principal Cantees is starting to come around to the idea that it's about the conversation that comes after the posting - the one that refines your thinking and makes you do more of it - that counts more than the original post.
I suppose we'll have to wait and see if post #2 is still months in the making.
More later.

Something to Mull Over

2007-01-20T10:03:00.000-05:00

Classroom Distinctions - New York Times

A friend and fellow teacher sent me the above link to a Times op-ed piece on the relationship between movie teachers and real world teachers. Seems they are two different animals.

Tom Moore, the writer of the piece, is a teacher in the Bronx. He writes:

Films like “Freedom Writers” portray teachers more as missionaries than professionals, eager to give up their lives and comfort for the benefit of others, without need of compensation. Ms. Gruwell sacrifices money, time and even her marriage for her job.

Her behavior is not represented as obsessive or self-destructive, but driven — necessary, even. She is forced into making these sacrifices by the aggressive neglect of the school’s administrators, who won’t even let her take books from the bookroom. The film applauds Ms. Gruwell’s dedication, but also implies that she has no other choice. In order to be a good teacher, she has to be a hero.

It's difficult for me to read this piece objectively. I know Erin and the Freedom Writers. I have seen the effects of their work and the effects Gruwell's methods can have when implements in the classroom.

I smirked when reading, "Many of the students I’ve known won’t sit down unless they’re repeatedly asked to (maybe not even then), and they don’t listen just because the teacher is speaking; even 'good teachers' are occasionally drowned out by the din of 30 students simultaneously using language that would easily earn a movie an NC-17 rating."

These things are true in my own school, in every school I've ever scene since joining the profession.

Admitting Moore's understanding and knowledge of the subject, I disagree with his premise. Yes, educators need more support, trust and pay. We need hope too. While I do not expect my teaching to have the same effects or results as Gruwell's, I need movies like Freedom Writers, Blackboard Jungle, Stand and Deliver, etc. to remind me of what education has the possibility of becoming.

I've sat through enough parent-teacher conferences to know that is the true business to which we've dedicated our lives - realizing potential.

To succeed in a system where much of the old guard wishes to maintain the status quo and the new recruits are focused on keeping their heads above water, sacrifice is often the best way to accomplish what is most important - getting through.

Perhaps movies like Dangerous Minds are dangerous to the profession, planting false expectations in new teachers and a critical public. I acknowledge they could lead to an attitude of "see, a real teacher will forsake love and personal happiness to save the students she teaches."

When we reach the precipice of this mindset, though, the same key is necessary as I use when calming a hot-blooded student - perspective.

These Kids Will Break Your Heart

2007-01-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

Since my kids began journaling earlier this year, I would inevitably have a few kids throughout each day ask me to read what they wrote. I would gladly agree to the chance to gain a glimpse into their lives. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, I would have a full head and empty hands. The journals would go forgotten until the next day.

"Mr. Chase, did you read my journal?"

Sheepish look. "No, I forgot."

One thing I hate is the feeling of letting one of my kids down. I do everything I can to keep it from happening, but the journals were my downfall.

After viewing Freedom Writers, I decided to change things around and implement a new system. If a student wants me to read what he or she wrote that day, they put the journal in the top drawer of my filing cabinet. If not, they put the journal back on the shelf. I've had no problems with people looking at other people's journals. They get that it's a personal space. It's one of the few places where The Golden Rule truly works.

At the end of the day, I now empty the drawer, sit at my desk and read. If a student wants a comment or reply, they've been told to write, "respond," on the entry.

So, I sit at the end of the each day and wait for my heart to break and be repaired.

Yesterday's highlight was a student who wrote about plans to go home, bake a cake, make coffee and watch a movie. She wrote that I could have a piece if I wanted one - all I had to do was e-mail her. I did. One smiling student delivered one piece of cake to my room bright and early this morning. I saved it for the end of the day while I was reading. Something to brighten the spirits.

Unfortunately, the offer of baked goods is the rarity. My students are struggling with things I'm yet to encounter. Suicide, drug addiction, neglect. I think I'm still amazed at how much they are willing to share. Much like Erin in the movie, I head to the drawer at the end of each day and expect a lighter load, but it's always full.

Interesting, I've got some repeat customers, but the daily selection is usually on rotation. Today these kids want to share, but tomorrow it will be an almost entirely different group. I love these kids. You have to. You absolutely have to.

More later.

technorati tags:freedomwriters, erin, gruwell, sarasota, teaching, english, classroom, writing

Flipchart Fun

2007-01-08T21:59:00.000-05:00

So, I had this whole post written about my plans for bucking the FCAT review scheduled for tomorrow. Then, the browser crashed. As such, here's a link to the ActivBoard Flipchart I made.

Bah.

More later.

Click

technorati tags:FCAT, ActivBoard, Flipchart, Teaching, Writing

So Much Has Happened

2007-01-08T12:48:00.000-05:00

Let me say some things about my final exam. Given the two days before school let out, exams are rarely an exciting thing for me. At Phoenix, all students, 8 and 9, take exams so as not to disrupt the schedule and to help prepare our advancing 8th graders should they decide to go to a traditional school next year.

My final was simple. I gave the students 10 different writing prompts and told them to pick the one they thought they could write the most interesting essay about. From there, they had to brainstorm, plan, write a rough draft, revise and write a final draft.

Now, at this point last year, I gave the same final and realized I had a lot of work to do. This year, the results were amazing. One student turned in planning, a rough draft and a final draft. This is amazing because the student has a serious learning disability. At the beginning of the year, he gave me four lines in response to a prompt. This was after he wrote his name on his planning sheet - that was all, his name, nothing else.

The essay he turned in took the whole page. Not only that, it contained three similes. THREE.

While none of them is ready to be published, each essay showed tremendous progress. They're writing. More often than not, they're writing things that are interesting and important to them. They're good kids.

I need to get to the next level. Our state writing assessment, the test I was hired for, is Feb. 7. I need to get them excited. I need to get them focused.

I don't know how many times this year, I've told the kids, "You will get a boring prompt, that does not give you permission to write a boring essay."

Other important phrases include, "Write the good sandwich," "Write your truth," and "So far as I know, no one has ever died of a writing related accident."

technorati tags:freedomwriters, english, teaching, writing, exam

A Glimmer of Hope

2006-12-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

Finals began yesterday.

I like finals. I like the idea that my students have an opportunity to put all they've learned to work for them. I'm not so fond of the results, sometimes, but them's the breaks.

Thursday's finals were something altogether different.

My final is simple, students receive 10 possible writing prompts and must choose one. They brainstorm, plan an essay, write a rough draft, revise that draft and write a final copy. It sounds more tedious than it is. I try to select prompts that are interesting and the fact that there are ten choices is helpful.

Yesterday's results were astounding. I was walking on air. A student who has, thus far, sat through timed writings and ended up with a barely legible third of his page filled up gave me a full page including 3 similes. I don't know if I was more excited about that or about the fact he FILLED an entire sheet with his brainstorming. It was tremendous.

Many other students who have heretofore done little or nothing when it comes to planning and brainstorming filled pages with webs and outlines. There was drive, effort and ability.

"Look at mine," was not an infrequent thing to overhear. I am proud.

I announced Wednesday when we were finishing our review for the test that the top essays from each class would be posted here on the blog. It's going to be a tight race.

More later.

technorati tags:teaching, english, classroom, finals, study, writing, essay

What I Learned

2006-12-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of my experiement with having my students teach their peers. While it was not a shining success serving as a beacon to the way education should be, it did offere a glimmer of hope of things to come.

I will use my last period class as an example. Two students were in the group that taught yesterday afternoon. They were a good pair who are also friends. Now, this can mean two things. Friends in group work can lead to no work or it can lead to good work. In this case, it led to the latter.

Of the two students, one is a frequent challenge. By the time this student ends the day in my classroom, I frequently wish my walls were padded in rubber. Monday, though, something else happened. These two students who had communicated over the weekend, who had sacrificed their lunch and wheel classes to work on their presentation brought their A Game.

From the top of the class, they had something for the students to do. They modeled, practiced and then assigned - taking questions as they went. What's more, they showed patience and understanding of those students who were off-task. Their re-direction was not loud or threatening, but quiet prodding of the "So, what are you writing down? Can I help?" ilk.

I was impressed. The cap was when theses student teachers had one of their class share a paragraph he had written. About the most difficult decision he'd ever had to face, the sharing students paragraph outlined his decision of whether or not to go skydiving. Without missing a beat, not a beat, the usually bouyant student said, "I can relate to that. When my mom went skydiving, I went up in the plane with her, and just being up there was scary."

He offered clear, relative feedback. He connected with his students.

I'll be doing this again when we return for second semester. It's a trial and error thing. Now that I know they can do it, I'm excited to see them do it better.

More later.

technorati tags:teaching, english, classroom, la, student

Students Teaching

2006-12-08T09:57:00.000-05:00

We're heading in to finals week next week. Because Phoenix is an 8th and 9th grade school, our 8th graders will also be taking finals. This is a first for many of them. It was a first for me last year. Earlier this week, I was pondering how I would prepare my students for their final. What review would work best? I feel I've dowsed them in the steps of the writing process for the past 18 weeks; one more time and they might drown.

Luckily, the idea came to me in the shower, as many good ideas do.

I'm not teaching anything. It's a tough on to grasp and looks like loafing at first glance.

It's not loafing, it's learning. If William Glasser is correct and we learn 90% of what we teach, then why not turn the teaching over to my students.

And so, for three days now, my students have been creating lesson plans, using computers, and working in groups to teach the steps of the writing process.

Let there be no confusion, it was painful at first. Many of my students claimed they had no idea how to plan for an essay, though my memory recalls planning being the chief concern of at least a dozen lessons. They looked like they were listening, even answered questions.

So, the learning's on them. The teaching's on them.

My job is to buzz from group to group and say things like, "If you're working on conclusion paragraphs and the group before you is working on introduction and body paragraphs, why not ask what the topic of their essay is and feed off of them?"

Last night, in an attempt to settle some concerns that continue to come up in each class, I built this. Hopefully, it will serve as a guide to the misguided. Either way, they're taking ownership...if somewhat reluctantly.

The Superintendent is doing a whirlwind tour of schools this week and next with a reporter from the Herald-Tribune. Mine is the class at Phoenix they'll be visiting. Sixth and seventh periods (two in which there is the most controlled chaos) have been told we'll have visitors. I'm excited because I think they will be proud of themselves after the visit. They are ready to answer questions (I hope) and they are owning the project so they should be fairly articulate. Of course, that's with me. Who knows what will happen when they are approached by total strangers who want to know "What are you doing?"

technorati tags:english, education, teaching, classroom, superintendent, sarasota

Who Says Experiments are for the Science Classroom?

2006-11-09T19:17:00.000-05:00

So, I was feeling rascally today.

Things in second period were a little off during our journaling at the beginning of the period.

How to deal with this? How to focus the students without setting out for a day of stress and frustration. I truly woke up this morning and told myself I would not be coming back to my apartment frustrated. The question became, then, how would I accomplish this?

Then answer: Don't teach.

As my lesson was completely set up on the ActivBoard (including discussion questions), I handed over my stylus to a student and said, "Take the class."

He took over the class and I sat at a desk and participated as a student.

I raised my hand, I asked questions, I offered answers during discussion. Even better, rather than leading the students through difficult vocabulary in the passage we were reading, I raised my hand and asked, "What is an 'alibi'?"

My students worked these questions out, discussing and arguing and moving on. At no point did anyone say, "Mr. Chase, you know what that means." Caught up in the moment, they took my questions as genuine and answered them as such

I thuroughly enjoyed myself. As the experience went so well in my first class, I decided to give it a go in my next as well.

I'll tell you something, it was eye-opening. The lesson was two-fold. The students in the seats were involved in learning what I had planned. The students who were teaching were involved in learning how to communicate a message to a resistant audience.

Things went very well, from my point of view.

The most memorable moment, for me, was when my 6th period teacher looked at me and said, "Ok, Mr. Chase, I get the lesson." He was not talking about our discussion of what it took to make a quality piece of writing. He was speaking of what it takes to hold a class together. He was talking about the gymnastic rigamaroll included in keeping a room of 8th graders interested in anything. You know what, he did get it. He did not (nor did any of my literal "student teachers") give up. Each of them toughed out the entire period with some astounding results.

The question becomes, can I go back there again? How often?

Tomorrow, we'll be completing our monthly timed writing, so I'll be leading the class. Still, a seed has been planted. Can this exercise evolve to the point where I give my students a topic or information set and a date and tell them to be prepared to present?

More later.

technorati tags:english, education, teaching, languagearts, writing, middleschool

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A Great Discussion

2006-11-08T11:06:00.000-05:00

My second period class didn't know what the midterm elections were. They didn't know why last night had any potential to impact America. Only time will tell if last night's results really did have any impact on politics in America.

We did get into an interesting conversation about political parties. A few of my students decided things would be better if there were only one party in power at one time. Say, a Republican president were elected, they decided the entire Congress should also then be Republican. We spoke further and talk turned to the war in Iraq.

"Why are we there?" I asked.

"The Iraqis flew the planes into the World Trade Center," was the majority response.

"No," one student said, "It's because of the weapons of mass destruction."

Thinking this was a strong road to follow, I asked the student to elaborate.

"Bush didn't pay off the weapons of mass destruction, so the people from Iraq attacked us."

The discussion was heated and everyone had an opinion. Tomorrow, I suppose I've got to decide whether I follow them down the rabbit hole. For right now, they're writing. I can't wait to see what they have to say.

More later.

technorati tags:Iraq, teaching, lesson, war

Next Stop?

2006-11-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

My students have been reading The Freedom Writers Diary. Yesterday, we read Diary #5 which recounts one student's decision to buy a gun for protection from a group of teens in his neighborhood who are constantly messing him up. In the discussion that followed in each class, my students were in 100% agreement that they like this book. It's difficult not to be drawn to truth and honesty. My response was to ask the students whether they thought they had stories worth telling.

From playing the Line Game, I knew the answer was "Yes."

My next question was more difficult to answer, "Why aren't you telling them?"

In truth, no one has ever asked them to tell their stories. No one has said to them, "Write something you would want to read." The Freedom Writers Diary has helped them see that what they want to read, they could write. My assignment at the final 15 minutes of the class period was to "write a story from your life that you would be interested in reading." The results were varied from the expected to the intense. I want to use these truths to begin editing and publishing. I need to get from these stories to blogs. They need to be able to post anonymously. Logistics to think on.

What's ironic is that I was waiting for their skill sets to get to the point that my students could blog. This was wrong. I needed to wait until they had a voice that needed hearing. We're almost there.

My hope is that we will be able to have a level of interaction similar to that of Will Richardson's class when they blogged about The Secret Life of Bees. Having had the chance to actually get to meet the freedom writers, I feel sure they would take 5 minutes every once in a while to write back to my kids. Here's hoping.

More later.

technorati tags:WillRich, FreedomWriters, Gruwell, English, Teaching, Writing

Chicken Noodle Soup

2006-10-31T09:33:00.000-05:00

A man's voice is booming from my CD player as I sit this Tuesday morning putting the final touches on my lesson. Layered over it are the soft cajolings of a woman encouraging me to "let it rain and clear it out."

I'm not sure of the name of the song, but it's inspired many of my female students to enter my room and dance. It's a dedication and energy I wish to tap in to when I'm teaching.

They flock in and out of the room, some watching, some participating, everyone wanting to be a part of the experience. How do you get this kind of excitement and thought about learning?

I want the best way to subvert this culture. Yes, technology is where they live, but most of my students use technology as a means to get to their real homes - their music.

In the five minutes of writing this post, the number of students has gone from 10 to 20. They are 100% engaged in what is going on.

The bell has rung. The experience is over.

Lightning in a bottle.

More later.

technorati tags:music, rap, dancing

Marathon Return

2006-10-31T09:04:00.000-05:00

The post below was originally written Monday, Oct. 23, 2006.

A race well run. I’m laying on the floor outside Gate 18 in Terminal 5 of O’Hare International Airport and I’m dreading what will happen in 20 minutes when I have to get back to my feet and begin boarding. If ever you find yourself spending major amounts of time in Terminal 5, bring food. The options once one passes through security are scant to say the best. It has been a busy weekend full of family, friends and running. Though it was not a PR in terms of time, this completion of the Chicago Marathon was one of my favorites. It elicited nowhere near the same emotional reaction from that sacred place at a runner’s core from whence emotion springs at the finish line and other major checkpoints, but it was still preferred.This year, for the first time, I was running a marathon not just with someone I knew, but with someone I’m related to. I’m unspeakably proud of my sister Rachel who has now completed 2 marathons before the age of 17. The world should expect great things from her. Running the first 10 miles along side Rachel will be a memory I treasure forever. She is tremendous. Knowing some of my closest friends, Teacher Dunda, Katy and Natalie were sharing the course gave the race a since of completion I’d not known before.

Hobbling with Natalie, Dunda and Katy to lunch today was a comical sight. Almost as comical, I would imagine, as the site of Dunda, Natalie and I making it to our gate.

In two weeks, I run again. For the first time, I’ll be trying my legs at the ING New York City Marathon. I’ll be covering the course with thousands of others, but I’ll also be covering it alone.

I’ll have no sister beside me for the first ten miles. It will be the city and it will be me.
We were speaking at lunch of the feeling that one can accomplish anything after running a marathon. Soon, I will find out if that anything includes another marathon. As with my first race, the goal is to finish – to know that I’ve pushed myself further and farther than I ever knew I could.
The metaphor is carrying over into the classroom. I was telling my friend Rachel the other day that I feel I’m back on my game as a teacher. The past few years have been stuffed to capacity with trainings and seminars and anything else that falls under the guise of professional development. It wasn’t until spending time with the Freedom Writers and Erin as well as running the marathon that it all fell in to place. Rather than using the tools I’ve been given to teach someone else’s way, I’ve got to find a way to re-focus on what it is that makes my classroom unique and use these new tools to improve upon that. You don’t build because you have the tools; you have the tools because you want to build. Tomorrow, it’s back to the workshop.
More later.

technorati tags:marathon, chicagoBlogged with Flock

Freedom Writers Return

2006-10-16T09:17:00.000-04:00

I suppose I'll eventually return to a halfway witty post title, but I'm going with what's on my mind at the moment. My midnight return played havoc with my waking this morning. My head was swimming with everything from the weekend.

I needed some sort of FW detox. It's nice to be back in the classroom. So much to do. I've got to pace myself.

I woke this morning to an e-mail from Principal Steve. He's been reading the blog and had this to say:

Your most difficult battle could be convincing "old codgers" like me that we need to reexamine our belief systems when dealing with students in the domain of discipline (sounds as if you may have had a 'philosophy-changing moment" in this regard). Having been around the block a time or two I think I know something and not so sure we don't have some anecdotal and data proof to back it up. High expectations, a relationship-based approach and a gradual shift to the center is a recipe for post graduate success for our kids. I mean our students will have to function in society, won't they?

I'm in agreement with what he has to say about high expectations and a relationship-based approach to teaching. The thing is, we can't just worry about the relationship between the teacher and student, we must also be agents of change for building relationships between students.

I don't know that I've had a philosophy-changing moment, more of a philosophy empowering moment. I'm going back to the essay I wrote at the end of my time in university. My "Why I Want to Teach" essay. Though my understanding of the working of a classroom and the daily struggle for relevance is refined and evolved, my target is the same. My core values haven't changed.

On the ride to the airport yesterday, I wrote this:

Andy Hargreaves talks about the fact that people rarely give up who they are all at once. It is something that happens piece by piece. With that mellowing process, educators become ENRONS of public education. I saw that happening; I saw myself slowly giving in to the pressures of a methodology of pedagogy that is not my own. My kids have missed out because they have been moving targets in a war of educational assimilation. It is not "standardized" thinkers who become heroes.

More later.

technorati tags:FWW06, Teaching, Education, English, Hargreaves, English, LanguageArts, classroom

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More Freedom Writing

2006-10-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

What an amazingly cohesive unit we 16 have become in such a short period of time. Meeting the actual Freedom Writers and getting to know them is a tremendous experience.

Friday and Saturday, we've been going through activities to help engage and enlighten our students. There are things being said and done that truly hit my head and heart with massive impact. Not only is this experience rejuvenating, it's challenging as well. I am being reminded of why I became an educator. I am reviving the passion for using English and literature to reach my students and help them to learn to shape their lives and take them in new directions.

I feel like I'm another version of the other Freedom Teachers I've met. We are in sync. We are starving to reach our children, to feast on their success.

We dug deeper today and experienced things we want our students to experience.

In one activity, a role play, we looked at what it might be for a class to play out a talk show using the characters in one of the Freedom Writers Diary entries. I was chosen to play the Freedom Writer. It was a tough job. This FW was a witness of a gang murder, the murder was done "for" the FW. The FW had to decide whether they wanted to lie and protect a fellow gang member or tell the truth and sentence an innocent man from a rival gang to life in prison.

Something in me connected with those students I see sitting in conferences or discipline situations - those students who are forced to listen as they are talked at or about and then asked what they think. I got angrier and angrier as I put myself in this FW's place. Trying to find something to say that would make everything ok, that would take weight off my shoulders and get someone to listen, to see me.

It was a dark place that I have seldom gone to.

A powerful experience, it woke me up to the need for more advocacy of our students than admonition of our students. To think that they have the answers to how to turn themselves around but are merely choosing not too is foolish. It is the type of ignorance good teachers got into this profession to erase.

I talk to my students constantly about perspective and why they think other people might be doing things. Not enough do we put ourselves, really put ourselves, in their position. We know their lives are frightening in many cases, but then we convince ourselves that we understand that and know what is right.

Easily, I sound say I want to do what Erin Gruwell did. I would be proud and honored to have that kind of success. I must fight against the powerful draw of statements. Her path was hers. Mine is my own. I can take strength from what she has experienced, I can adopt and adapt her methods, I can open my heart and my life completely to my students, but I must remember my path is my own.

If the greatness my students accomplish is different, then that is fantastic. We are each meant to follow our own passion and though it will have the same shine, it may not take the same shape.

More later.

Freedom Writers Day 1

2006-10-12T23:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I started out today in Sarasota, Florida, flew to Charlotte, NC, got on another plane (delayed 40 minutes) and now Im in Long Beach, CA.
Fay of the Freedom Writers Foundation picked me up from LAX with Heather from OK City in tow. I was supposed to arrive first, but the delay put a kink in those plans. The trip from the airport to the hotel was great. Both Fay and Heather have such a great energy, not that I wouldnt expect that to be the case. I have a sneeking suspicion that this is going to be weekended of kindred spirits.
Im sharing my hotel room with another teacher. He wasnt here when I showed up, but just popped in for a bit. His names Darwin and he and his colleagues are from Toronto. Ill need Google Maps to decide which of us has traveled the farthest to get here.
Were due down in the lobby in 20 minutes, so I should get myself prepared. I gave my schedule printout to Principal Steve before I left, so I have only a cusory familiarity with what weve got going tonight. I do know that activities are packed in to these four days. I cant wait to get started.

More later.

It's later. What a fantastic group. When all of the delays and flight re-routes are taken care of, we will be 16 teachers strong. Tonight was a brief bit of housekeeping and laying out of the itinerary. I've got to say, I love these people. One of the things I imagined tonight during dinner was what it would look like if all of us worked together in the same school. Unfair to our home schools, but amazing for our students.

We met two of the freedom writers tonight. Well, two of them were here. Sonia and I go way back (lol). Honestly, I can't imagine a better group of people. One of the things I noticed while people were introducing things was the high percentage of people who said they were in the profession for fewer than 10 years but felt as though tteachinge teching for 25 or longer.

That, to me, is one of the most important pieces of being here. After just one quarter of the year, I know I need to sharpen the saw (thank you Stephen Covey). Tomorrow, the real work begins. I cannot wait. I want to package all of these people and bring them back.

I also want to sneak all of my Phoenix counterparts in to the workshop.

Before signing off, I tell you to watch the video below. The Freedom Writers trailer went live on YouTube. It's pretty hard core. I tell you this that Erin is not nearly as rough in real life.

Darwin sends a special shout out and would like to let everyone know he's a self-described "Chinese George Clooney." I'll have to get some pics for Flickr.

More later.

Thank You Google Maps

2006-10-06T13:20:00.000-04:00

Some students were in my room this afternoon during lunch using my laptops. One student was using the USA Track & Field website to map out a route he would be running this weekend. Another student, Jose, was sitting next to him and looking to find his house.

"Jose," I said, "see if you can find your town in Mexico."

He got this look on his face, this, wonder struck look.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "I never thought about doing that."

So, he went to the general Google maps page and zoomed in on Texas.

"Now, where is the Rio Grande," he said.

He found the river, but was a little upset that it was so long.

I suggest he do a search for a town name he remembered. He googled Eagle Pass, TX and the excitement increased.

"Here's the church we used to go to."

"Here's the place where my mom's house used to be."

"Here's where we would go to the flea market."

"Here's where we would cross over."

"Here's where a border patrol agent shot a lady while she was crossing."

I asked how long it had been since he had visited - 6 years.

No lesson I could have created on reading maps or autobiography could have rivaled what took place this afternoon. A site I use all the time to get directions or find a new running store did more than that today. It helped me to connect with one of my students. It helped him visit home.

technorati tags:google, texas, usatf, lep, education, esol

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"Simultaneous at the same time"

2006-09-28T21:41:00.000-04:00

So, today was literally one for the record books. Phoenix and Booker Middle School were the two schools in Sarasota County to participate in Florida's effort to break the Guiness World Record for the most people reading the same thing simultaneously.

Despite the somewhat corny intro. and showing by Gov. Bush and our state's education czar that they are fairly disconnected with the psyche of Floridian middle schoolers, and despite my initial reservations, I have to admit it was a fairly exciting thing to be a part of.

The students weren't really sure what to say about it. The cynical side wanted to mock the whole thing, but the prospect of breaking a world record kept that in check. Instead, we were left with awkward jokes they didn't really believe in.

So, we got a couple hundred thousand Florida students reading simultaneously today. The next step is getting all of them to learn simultaneously.

More later.

technorati tags:guinessbook, record, florida

Blogged with Flock

The Student Side of Online Conferences

2006-09-25T18:27:00.000-04:00

A great opportunity for students:

What does it mean to be a global citizen?
Four conferences for students! iNet is hosting four online conferences that will allow students around the world to learn about global issues and it will provide students with the opportunity to share their ideas with their peers as well as develop a global perspective on life on our planet. More importantly, these conferences will permit students to develop a more active role as global citizens and to discuss what it means to be a global citizen. “We need students help to make the conferences a success. We invite students to use their imagination and creative skills to tell us what they think about their role in the world – today and tomorrow. This might include short stories, essays, letters, mind-maps, drawing, videos or audio files. We have provided questions as a starting point, but they are only a guide – we want students to be honest and submit resources on the issues that matter to them. The resources may then be discussed by students from around the world.”
The online conferences are based on material produced by students. Adults are not allowed to participate in the student online conferences.

Students and teachers, who intend to forward access details onto a large number of participating students, may register for free for the set of four conferences at http://www.cybertext.net.au/studentreg2.htm
Conference 1: Global Citizens – Are You A Global Citizen? 11 Dec. – 17 Dec 2006- Deadline for papers / presentations is Monday, Oct 23 2006

Conference 2: Global Equality – We Are the First Generation Who Can Eradicate Poverty. 11 Dec. – 17 Dec 2006- Deadline for papers / presentations is Monday, Dec 11 2006

Conference 3: Global Resources – How Can We Protect Our Planet? 12 Mar – 18 Mar 2007- Deadline for papers / presentations is Monday, Jan 29 2007

Conference 4: Global Peace – How Can We Bring Peace To Our Planet? 14 May – 20 May 2007- Deadline for papers / presentations is Monday, Apr 2 2007To learn more about these conferences, please visit http://www.ssat-inet.net/Default.aspx?page=55

For questions, please e-mail Online Conference Manager, Ms. Debra Brydon at brydon@cybertext.net.au

Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning Project (ABEL)

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It's Game Time!

2006-09-25T18:13:00.000-04:00

Science Teacher Stephanie sent an e-mail out today asking for "links of educational websites the students can peruse in the before school program." I don't have a huge database of educational games.

I know they're out there and growing in popularity, but that's about it. I remembered Marc Prensky's talk at BLC'06 and turned to the web.

More specifically, I turned to del.icio.us and started a tag search. Not two minutes later, I was breezing through a site called Social Impact Games. I'll admit, I stopped by a few to test them out. I'm got particularly hooked on "Wast of Space" by Hidden Agenda Games. They've got some spectacular science games. Nothing like blowing up aliens and getting a first-class refresher on the laws of motion at the same time.

I have yet to find any writing games, but I'm sure they're out there. This is not to mention the writing component that can be built in to explaining any of these games.

I remember doubting the validity of what Marc was saying when he spoke of the coming wave of relevant educational games. A child of "Oregon Trail" (I never made it without breaking an axel or losing an ox) my memory is of edcuational games that could never stack up to the system that was waiting for me at home. While these newer offerings are not yet up to par, their inclusion in a classroom environment would likely meet with excited students. This is taking the learning where they live.

Incidentally, this has become my mantra for the year, "Take the learning where they live." If they live online, we've got to go there. If they live for sports, we've got to go there. The way I see friends and family in specialized careers, I see my students more and more specialized in their lives. Though these specialties may not last, it's where they live.

More later.

technorati tags:BLC06, Prensky, del.icio.us

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"Heavy is the head that wears the crown."

2006-09-22T09:02:00.000-04:00

So, this happened yesterday:

9/21/06
Dr. Carol Todd, President
School Board of Sarasota County Florida
1960 Landings Blvd
Sarasota, FL 34231

Dear Dr. Todd and Members of the Board of Education,

It is with sadness that I am serving you notice today that I will resign my position as Superintendent of Schools effective June 30, 2007. I appreciate the fact that with your “meets expectations” vote on my evaluation, June 21, 2006, the board automatically extended my contract another year until June 30, 2008, but unfortunately, I must decline your offer. I intend to immediately begin a search for a new position.
The past several months have been unnecessarily tumultuous and have exacted a huge toll on my family and me. I have loved every part of my 24-year career as superintendent of schools until recently. I think it best for the school board, the school district and my profession, that I not elaborate any further.
The past few weeks have cemented my realization that while the work to create a NeXt Generation education system is essential, there are unimaginable roadblocks in Sarasota County that will continue to impede the transformation.
My passion to insure a NeXt Generation Education for our children is now even stronger than it was when we first met in October, 2003. Every single day, the research becomes clearer that this type of educational reform is necessary for our students to be successful in our changing world. I intend to offer that vision to another community or institution.
I will continue to work tirelessly on your 4 goals until June. Equally important to me is that your next superintendent has a very smooth transition period. I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.
Thanks for the opportunity to work with the fine professional educators and support staff in this school district. I truly believe in them and their abilities. My sincere thanks, to all of our outstanding community partners, that have been so supportive of our efforts. I sincerely hope that the community believes that we have made a small difference in establishing the vision and elevating the discussion about the importance of transforming our schools.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Gary W. Norris, Superintendent

I'm still taking time to process the whole thing. I actually had a meeting at the district office toward the end of the day yesterday. Before I finished the 20-minute trip, I had two texts and an e-mail letting me know what had happened. Still, I didn't have any concrete proof until I sat down in my meeting and everyone received a copy of the Superintendent's resignation letter. Definitely a pallor to the spirit of all involved. ITC Wendy asked what I thought about things. My response:

You know that feeling people describe when they're telling you the campfire story/urban legend about the guy who wakes up in a tub of ice water and his kidneys have been removed? That guy, that's how I feel.

It's true. All along, I've said Dr. Norris is a man of vision and the back-to-school meeting gave evidence he was recognizing the need to better communicate that vision. True, there is some value in the criticism that he wanted to do too much too quickly, but the responsibility for these past few years' tumult cannot rest on his shoulders alone. Our district has proven itself to be a lumbering machine. So often do we hear cries of improvement, that we failed to act when the cries were real. Thinking critically is good. Living in a constant mode of criticism is not.
Tumult, tumult, tumult.
More later.

Of Geeks and Google and the Tears of Heaven

2006-09-20T20:49:00.000-04:00

To say it rained in Sarasota last night would be a gross understatement. Last night brought a cataract of ark-building proportions. It does that in sub-tropical locales. As such, the power in our school flickered on and off a few times. The network went all screwy and connectivity was hit and miss all day. ITC Wendy came into my room mid-day and said, "I think if you don't restart, you should be ok."
I had, of course, restarted at least three times to try and solve the problem. Luckily, the student laptops were still functioning, so I didn't need to fall back on Plan B. This deep into the school year, I wonder would I would have done were I already up and running as a blogging classroom. Generally speaking, in the traditional classroom, the textbooks aren't given to disappearing after a storm. Still, I'd much rather have what I have than have not.
Our ESE Resource teacher Lynne helps daily in my last period class. This means she was in on my Eminem lesson yesterday. This morning, she told me last night she read my post on the lesson. She was in her daughter Crissy's room, she'd forgotten her laptop at school, and Crissy came in. She explained what she was doing and told Crissy what she was reading about.
"They got to listen to music in English class?" she said, "I want to go to Phoenix."
I'm a little incredulous at the idea that music in a classroom is so difficult to believe at this point in the game. It's such a rich mix for a language classroom in the first place. Given the success of yesterday's as shown by my students' almost total recall of what we had done and the lesson to be learned, I'm planning on using it more and more in my classroom.
The room has also become a hub of activity during lunch. I've a contingent of male students who pile in to use the computers to listen to music and look up weird news. I've also a contingent of female students who come in to look up videos of the latest dance crazes. These same students who struggle when I give them a research topic or question are incredibly adroit at finding exactly the right video or finding their way around dead links. The knowledge is there, but the building is dead. I've got to bring more relevant content to the class.
My students, by-and-large, do not see themselves as writers. If I can get them writing about where they are and interacting with the online segment of experts on those various subjects, I think they will be pushed to explore their abilities.
Ideas?
More later.

Music for the Masses

2006-09-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

Part of biulding endurance in writing in my classroom is using daily journaling in response to what I try to make high-interest prompts. We've been journaling for about 10 days so far and my results are encouraging.
One common frustration is the way almost all of my writers start their journal prompts. Today was a prime example. One of the prompts was, "What are three things in your life of which you are proud. What makes you proud of each?"
Any teacher who has thrown such a prompt at their kids knows most beginning writers will come back with a first sentence that starts something like, "Three things in my life I'm proud of are..."
Determined to show my students why that can make for painful reading, I played just the intro. of Eminem's song "Lose Yourself" from the movie 8 Mile.
The song starts with a piano solo a la the introduction to a Mariah Carey song. Just as you're getting pulled in and lulled in to thoughts of herbal tea and afternoon naps, a strong bass guitar line takes the place of the guitar.
Before I started the song, I wrote the question, "What do you notice about the beginning of this song?" on the board and told them all I wanted to do was listen and write.
When it was over, after promising we could listen to more of the song later, I asked them to share what they noticed.
The results were great.
"In the beginning, I thought it was going to be a Mariah Carey song because it sounded like one of her beats, but then it changed up," a student recalled in last period.
It got me where I wanted to be and got them thinking about how they started their writing.
I asked them to think of what they wrote today and what they read of other people. "Raise you hand if what you wrote or read started with..." I listed the usual suspects, hands went up.
"Would you really want to read that?"
A chorus of "No, that would be boring."
"Then I challenge you not to write it. Don't write what you wouldn't want to read. Easy is boring."
Talking to other teachers after school today, it sounds like they were listening. Tomorrow's journal prompt will be a better barometer.
More later.